Under the Surface
by tripleT.Vo
Summary: All it took was for him to look at her. Just once. And like that, Sora's willpower would evaporate into thin air, leaving her completely vulnerable to Yamato again. Even after everything that had happened between them, Sora still cared for him. A Sorato.
1. Back to the Beginning

**Summary:** All it took was for him to look at her. Just once. And like that, Sora's willpower would evaporate into thin air, leaving her completely vulnerable to Yamato again. Even after everything that had happened between them, Sora still cared for him. A Sorato.**  
Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes: **This chapter has been updated (as of October 2011) to reflect my changed writing style – so if you're re-reading, you might notice a few tweaks. But thanks, as always, to Trisha for being a sounding board for all my ideas.

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**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter I: Back to the Beginning  
_

* * *

"Are you done yet?"

Taichi leaned close over the stove, obstructing Yamato's view of his skillet. While another person might have felt uncomfortable with Taichi's blatant disregard for personal space – especially considering their proximity to an open flame – Yamato merely nudged his best friend firmly with his elbow. "Not quite," Yamato answered, flicking the gas dial up to high heat. "Be patient."

Taichi heaved a heavy sigh. He pushed away from the counter and walked aimlessly around the kitchen. "This better be worth the wait," he grumbled.

"It usually is," Yamato replied absentmindedly as he used a pair of chopsticks to slide a cut of beef around. It sizzled, and Yamato inhaled in the delicious aroma of cooking beef that wafted upward. "Just sit down. The steak will be done on its own time, whether you keep pacing or not."

"Sit down? Where?" The brunet began cracking up. Yamato glanced around to see that Taichi was shaking his head at the kitchen and adjoining dining area. "When was the last time you and your dad cleaned up the apartment? When the dinos still stomped around on the earth? I'll need a shovel to find a place to sit..."

Yamato pretended to aim his chopsticks at Taichi's head, who gamely feinted to the side in reflex. "For your information, me and my dad have been busy, what with the station's new management and the music festival coming up for the band. And honestly, you're one to talk – when was the last time your room was clean?"

"Er…" Taichi cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brows as he tried to think. "I… don't… know." He quickly moved onto the defensive. "But hey, at least _I_ keep my mess in my room – I don't leave crap all over the living room like you do – "

"Only because your mom threatened to have you neutered if you did otherwise." Yamato smiled smugly, which intensified when Taichi winced.

With as much dignity as he could manage, Taichi leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. "I hate you."

"You say that now, but you'll be singing your praises when you eat this."

"Yeah, I know. Damn you and your delicious food, Ishida. It's the only reason why we're still friends."

Yamato snickered at that before shaking his head. "Do you know when Sora's coming?"

Taichi boosted himself up so that he could sit on the counter. "Nope. She said that she needed to go somewhere after practice, but I dunno how long it'll take her. She _did_ happen to mention that we should start eating without her if she's too late. So if you're just so happening to be taking a long time with dinner because you're waiting for her…" he trailed off meaningfully.

"You're a pig."

"Shut up, you can eat just as much as I can. Don't even try to lie; you kept up when we went to that buffet place last time."

"Just because I _can_ eat as much as you doesn't mean that I always _do_. I know how to restrain myself; you don't. I'm not a pig, and you are."

"I just have a healthy appetite, that's all," his best friend protested.

"I wouldn't call it that – it's downright alarming, watching you eat."

Taichi shrugged. "What do you expect? I'm an athlete. I need lots of food to keep me fueled."

"Keep telling yourself that." Yamato's attention briefly moved to his dinner preparations, and he focused on checking the beef filets. "Nearly there."

"Awesome." Taichi coughed. "By the way, man, I've been meaning to ask you something."

Yamato set down his chopsticks and moved to the sink to wash his hands. "What's up?"

"What's the special occasion for dinner today? It's been a while since… " Taichi paused and frowned. He tried to continue. "I thought that you and Sora – " He stopped again. Then, he shook his head, looking embarrassed. "Well, you know what I'm trying to ask."

"I know." Yamato dried his hands slowly, giving him time to think of an answer that would satisfy Taichi's question while side-stepping the other, unspoken question in the brunet's curiosity-laden words. It wasn't, after all, something that Yamato enjoyed thinking about.

Much to the shock of their mutual friends, Yamato and Sora had broken up earlier in the year after almost two years of dating. Although Yamato wished that he could say that they had parted amicably, their breakup had been anything but friendly. Their parting was bitter and angry, and neither one of them even considered attempting to maintain the friendship they used to share. Instead, they pretended that the other didn't exist; when they happened to cross paths, it was with icy determination that they ignored each other.

Thoroughly bewildered and at a loss, the Chosen Children and Digimon had at first left the two to their own devices. After a month, Gabumon tentatively proposed that Yamato move on from the past by trying to rebuild his friendship with Sora. The proposition had been vehemently rejected, and the Digimon respectfully left the subject alone… for a while, anyway. After that failed first attempt, Gabumon began to recruit reinforcements, enlisting the aid of Takeru, Taichi, Jyou, and even Hiroaki to nudge Yamato in the direction of reconciliation.

It took several long months of persistent coaxing before Yamato and Sora had their first civil exchange – beginning the arduous process of becoming friends once more. It was hard: there were some things that neither one of them had forgotten, things that had driven them apart. Still, the hardest obstacle – conquering the ill feelings that they used to harbor against each other – had been passed. Now, it was a matter of figuring out just what kind of form their friendship would take.

Yamato was hyperaware of Taichi's eyes on him, and so he finally answered while checking his boiling soba noodles – a pretense for him to speak without having to make eye contact. "Actually, I don't know what the occasion is. Sora caught me before school and suggested the three of us could have dinner together," he continued as he drained the noodles in a strainer. "She wouldn't tell me why, but I offered to cook."

"Oh."

Before Taichi had a chance to ask any further questions, a knock on the door alerted them both to someone's arrival. Yamato checked his watch. "That's Sora. Dad's not due for a few more hours."

Taichi nodded and hopped off the counter. "I'll get it. You finish cooking those steaks already!" he called over his shoulder as he left the kitchen.

Yamato only shook his head in response, even though Taichi couldn't see him anymore. He picked up his chopsticks to check the beef, but he couldn't help but hear snatches of Taichi and Sora's enthusiastic greeting from the hallway. He paused altogether when the sound of their easy laughter echoed, making him feel –

_Stop._

Yamato took a deep breath, gathering himself.

He flipped the steaks again, carefully noting the time; it would be a waste if they became well-done.

Heavy footsteps marked Taichi's return to the kitchen. "Sora smells horrible," Taichi announced at once. "Plug your nose if she stands too close."

"Knock it off. Don't be such a jerk." Sora punched Taichi's shoulder, making the football player yelp in alarm. Speaking over his protestations, Sora apologized loudly, "Sorry I'm late, Yamato. My business took longer than I was expecting."

"Don't worry about it," Yamato said, waving his hand. He noticed that genuine relief flashed across Sora's face and that her shoulders relaxed visibly at his words, and he felt a pang of guilt at the sight. Had she feared his reaction? Pushing the thought aside, he went on to add lightly, "And if you stink, it isn't strong enough for me to smell it."

Sora rolled her eyes. "Obviously, Taichi's never thought to smell himself after his_ own _practices," she said dryly, ignoring Taichi outright. "He makes me smell perfumed in comparison."

"What are you trying to say?" Taichi demanded huffily, offended by her insinuation. "Is there something wrong with my body odor to you? I'll have you know," he continued before Sora could reply, "that my musk drives all the girls at school wild! I get swarmed every time I walk out of the locker room!"

Grinning at their exchange and subsequent bickering, Yamato turned around and went back to dinner. With some luck, Sora kept Taichi's attention occupied long enough for Yamato nearly finish cooking without further interruptions. When their banter winded down, he asked them, "I'm almost done, so can you guys set the table? All the plates and stuff are in the dishwasher."

"Sure," Sora agreed immediately. "But…"

"Hmm?"

She hesitated. "You have a lot of… stuff. On your table."

Taichi snorted at her caution. "Is there a table underneath all that? I'm not so sure."

"Shut up," Yamato retorted automatically before he answered Sora seriously. "Can you shift some of the stuff to the floor? I'll clean it up later."

"Okay."

He turned around to glare at Taichi. "And if _you_ keep complaining about how much I need to clean up, I'll give your dinner to Gabumon. _He _doesn't mind when I make the effort to cook a meal for him."

"Fine, fine!" Taichi held his hands up in surrender, although he added quickly, "But the only reason why I was complaining in the first place was because I didn't want to make a lady like Sora sit on the floor to eat her dinner. That's not a very good display of manners to a houseguest."

"Oh, so now I'm a lady?" Sora's tone was pointed, but good-naturedly so. "What happened to my smelling bad?"

"Well, ladies can stink too."

Exasperated, she began, "Yagami Taichi – "

"All done, Yamato!" Taichi announced, intent on escaping from a probable Sora-lecture. He hurried over to Yamato's side. "Want us to carry the dishes out?" he volunteered. "Damn, that smells totally mouthwatering. Can I bring you to college with me? I'll let you have half of my dorm room and everything in exchange for being my personal chef – "

"If you want me to be your personal chef, I'm going to require a lot more than just half your dormitory space as payment," Yamato cut across Taichi dryly.

Sora interjected, "And now would you stop being such a nuisance, Taichi, and carry the plates to the table like you offered? You'll have no one to blame but yourself if the steak gets cold."

"Oh. Right. The lady has a point. Eat first, negotiate payment later. Do you need a bed, or will a sleeping bag be enough for you?"

Yamato placed a plate in Taichi's hands. "Taichi? Shut up. Again. For the hundredth time."

"We're only up to a hundred?" Sora commented mildly as she assisted in carrying another plate to the table. "What's the time period?"

"Just for today."

"Mmm, okay. _That_ makes sense."

Taichi huffed. "I hate you guys and I'm going to start eating without you."

Yamato joined them at the table with his own plate and shook his head. "By all means, go ahead. If you start early, maybe we'll all finish satisfying our appetites at the same time."

Sora giggled. "If you wanted us to all finish at the same time, you should have given him a half-hour head start, not just a few minutes. Right, Taichi?"

"Hmm?" Taichi looked up, his mouth already full of beef and noodles.

"Never mind." She frowned. "You need to work on your table manners."

"For the hundredth time today," Yamato said, raising his eyes heavenward.

Taichi kicked him under the table. Before Yamato could retaliate, Sora tapped her fork against her plate. "Guys? No physical violence at the dinner table."

"Yes ma'am," they chorused simultaneously – though Yamato still managed to aim a decent shot at Taichi's calf – before they turned their attention to eating.

The meal was an enjoyable one. The food was good – much to Taichi's delight, encouraging him to redouble his efforts to recruit Yamato as a personal chef – and the conversation flowed easily for a majority of the time, mostly revolving around school and events in the Digital World. It wasn't until after they had finished eating and were just relaxing that Yamato remembered the mystery of Sora's desire for a dinner at his place. "So, Sora," Yamato began, during a lull in the conversation, "you never did mention why you wanted us to eat dinner together tonight."

It took her a moment to process Yamato's question, but the confusion on her face was quickly replaced by understanding. "Oh, I forgot all about that – let me go grab my bag. I'll be right back," Sora said, pushing her chair back and leaving briefly to the hallway. When she came back, she held a colorful brochure in her hand. "This is what we'll be doing this summer!" she announced.

Yamato and Taichi looked at each other wordlessly in their own confusion before leaning forward together.

"Do you remember how the school told us about that 'career camp' for third years at the beginning of the trimester? Well, the official brochures came into the office today, so I stopped by after practice to pick some copies up for us." Sora went on to say, "Koushiro and I both thought it would be an interesting and helpful way of spending our summer – and it's actually pretty affordable for what they're offering."

"May I see that?" Yamato reached out to take the brochure from Sora's hand and perused it while she continued to explain what the camp was to Taichi.

Evidently, the camp took place over the course of two weeks in summer break. It offered classes that students could attend to explore the disciplines that they were planning on pursuing for their university focus. Turning the brochure to the back, he scanned the listed classes and was gratified to see that the camp offered a full orchestra opportunity. He was suitably intrigued: considering the fees of the camp and comparing them to the cost of standard lessons, it really was reasonably priced….

"I don't know, Sora," Taichi was saying, the skepticism in his voice making Yamato look up in curiosity. "'Career camp'? Do we really need to go through that? It doesn't sound like a fun way to spend the summer if you ask me. Besides, I already told Daisuke and Ken that I'd help coach them on their football this summer. I can't just ditch them; they're really counting on me to help them out."

"You see them all the time anyway," Sora countered patiently. "I'm sure they'd find a way to occupy themselves if you left them on their own for two weeks. Anyway, this is important. This could really help you figure out what you want to do when you go to college. And I don't just mean you, really, I mean all of us."

Taichi pouted. "But we don't need to figure out what we want to do – I'm going to be a football star, you're going to be a tennis star, and Yamato's going to be a rock star. Why waste our time?"

"Come on, Taichi, you know we already talked about this," Yamato reminded. "It's good to have back-up plans for something as big as our futures. And it won't be a complete waste of time; there are lots of different classes at the camp, and we could learn a lot of useful stuff. Plus, it's pretty cheap. What's the worst that could happen?"

"We get sucked into another dimension to save the world – again?" Taichi deadpanned, though the effect was somewhat ruined by his waggling eyebrows.

Yamato laughed.

Though Sora giggled, she shook her head quickly afterward and affected a stern expression. "Back on topic, please. Koushiro took a brochure too," Sora told Taichi, "since he found out that they offered computer programming classes. So even if you already know what you want to do, it's still a good opportunity to learn more."

"So Koushiro's gonna do it for sure? I thought that he was going to be taking summer college courses with Jyou." Taichi frowned, clearly doubtful.

At that, Sora shrugged. "Computer programming isn't really a class that you need to be in a physical classroom for, though. I think his classes are mostly online… knowing Koushiro, he'll probably do his classes while he's at camp."

"You know, I think I'm going to go too." Yamato set the brochure down on the table. "I don't think my dad would mind fending for himself if I went, since I'll pay for it on my own. And I think it'll be cool to try out the full orchestra class that they're offering at the camp."

"What, you too?" Taichi's expression became nervous as he realized that he was the only one left undecided. "But why would you need to take lessons? You already have a band, a manager – "

Yamato spun the brochure across the surface of the table at Taichi, making it land in his lap. Leaning back in his chair, Yamato stretched his arms out above his head to relieve the soreness in them."But I've never had formal training before. I'll be learning something new. And I wouldn't say no to the chance to perform with a symphonic orchestra, either. I've never done anything like it before. It would be a cool experience."

"I thought you'd like it," Sora remarked quietly, clearly pleased with Yamato's approval of the camp.

Their gazes locked briefly, and Yamato was taken aback slightly by the open warmth in her eyes as she looked back at him. But then she ducked her head, flushing slightly – and he looked away as well, swallowing hard as he did so. Clearing his throat, he directed to Taichi, "It wouldn't hurt to check it out, man. Who knows, maybe you'll find something besides the Digital World and football to interest you."

Oblivious to Yamato and Sora's exchange, Taichi merely made a face as he flipped through the brochure. "What are you going to be doing there, though, Sora?" he asked as he read. "Are you just going to pick a random class to go to for the whole two weeks?"

It was a well known fact among the older Chosen – Jyou, Taichi, Yamato, Koushiro, and Mimi – that Sora was still undecided about what she wanted to do in the future, and, as such, hadn't figured out what she wanted to study in university yet. Jyou was prone to harassing Sora (with the best intentions at heart, of course) into choosing a major sooner rather than later, but the others let her be so that she wouldn't rush into a decision that she would later regret.

"They have this option at the camp for people who are still undecided," Sora answered Taichi's question slowly, running a hand through her short auburn hair almost nervously. "I'm going to be doing that. I'll get to try different classes the first few days to see if there's anything that sparks my interest. When I find a class I like, I'll join it officially and stay there for the rest of camp. That's one of the reasons why I really want to go."

"What are your other reasons for wanting to sign up?" Yamato asked curiously.

"Well, I just thought… it would be nice if the four of us could do something together like summer camp again." She smiled wistfully. "You guys remember. It was at summer camp that we first met the others. It's where we all were when we got our Digivices and went to the Digital World for the first time. Can you believe it's already been six years? I'd be fitting to we go back to camp for the last time before we become adults, even if not everyone else can make it with us."

Taichi and Yamato both considered Sora's words. "That's a good reason for going," Taichi conceded. "I... I didn't think of it that way before."

Sora shrugged easily. "You don't usually think at all. I'm used to it," she replied airily. "So you'll go, Taichi? Or at least think about it? It won't be the same without you."

He glanced back and forth between his two best friends. Taichi sighed. "I don't think I really have a choice, do I? I guess I'll go," he said. "You guys are right, it wouldn't hurt to at least _try_ other things out beside football and make a backup plan. My parents would be okay with going… probably say something about me making a responsible, mature decision." Taichi groaned. "Who would have thought that the day would come?"

"Not you, apparently," Yamato said dryly. Taichi scowled and leaned forward, his mouth already opening to shoot back a response, but Yamato cut him off when he heard the jangle of keys. "Hang on a sec, I think my dad's back," Yamato said, shushing Taichi with a wave of his hand, and strained his ears to listen. His friends obligingly fell silent, listening as well.

He was rewarded with the familiar squeak of the apartment door as it swung open and close, followed by footsteps trudging into the apartment. "Hey Yamato, you having some friends over for dinner?" Ishida Hiroaki's voice called from the doorway.

"Yeah, Dad – Taichi and Sora," Yamato called back.

"Okay." Hiroaki stuck his head in the entryway of the dining area. "Taichi, Sora. Haven't seen either of you here in a while. How've you kids been?" he asked genially. If his father was surprised to see Sora in the kitchen, he hid it well – his face only showed warmth and welcome as he looked at her and Taichi both.

"I've been good, thanks," Sora said, politely bowing her head in greeting.

Taichi, familiar with Hiroaki's lax attitude about formalities, patted his stomach exaggeratedly. "I'm much better now, since Yamato's fed me."

"Well, that's a relief – you know how we've been worrying about you not eating enough," Hiroaki replied wryly, making the three teenagers laugh. "I'll leave you to your meal. Come around more often: Yamato's only makes good food for me to eat for dinner when we have guests over," he instructed, causing Taichi and Sora to both laugh again.

Sora promised, "We'll keep that in mind."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that twice!" Taichi grinned brightly in answer.

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Dad, for volunteering my services without asking. By the way, I already have your dinner ready, so you can eat whenever you want."

"I'm going to need to wash up first, so just leave it on the stove for me. Will you two be staying much longer?" the man directed to the guests. "It's getting late; I don't want your parents to worry."

"Oh, it is getting late," Sora said with surprise, checking her phone. "And it's a school night too."

Taichi nodded, standing up. "Yeah, we should get going."

"Well then, good night, Taichi, Sora," Hiroaki said, moving away from the entry.

"Good night."

The three busied themselves with cleaning up their meal after Hiroaki left, gathering the dishes and transferring them to the dishwasher. After he added the last load, Yamato turned to his friends. "Do you guys want me to walk you to the bus station? It's already dark out."

"Nah, it's fine." Taichi shook his head. "It's not that far away. And I'm man enough to protect Sora! No worries."

Sora shoved Taichi roughly. "As if! If we got mugged, you'd run away before you'd stay to fight. You're a useless bodyguard."

"Hey, I'm a football player, you're a tennis player. We both do a lot of running in our cardio workouts – so you'd run away too!"

Yamato and Sora exchanged a glance before shaking their heads at Taichi together as they walked to the door. "Well, text me or something when you guys arrive home to be on the safe side. I want to be sure that you get home safely."

"Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow at school." Taichi slung on his backpack and nodded while opening the door.

Sora slid her feet into her shoes and picked up her tennis racket. "Thanks for the dinner, Yamato, it was delicious."

"Oh right – thanks for feeding me, man. Think about the personal chef idea some more?" Taichi asked hopefully.

Yamato chuckled and punched Taichi in the arm in response. "Idiot. Night, guys."

"Night, Yamato."

"Bye!"

They waved at him goodbye before walking down the stairs of the apartment complex, and Yamato stayed on the balcony until he saw their figures disappear into the night.

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**Post Script:**

Hello, everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed this first chapter (whether it's the first time you've read it or not), which is the exposition of my Digimon "novel" here on FF. Please leave a review on your way out – that's the only way this particular author gets paid for her work.

Still here? Awesome.

If this is the first time you've read "Under the Surface," I'd like to give a heads up if you've been intrigued enough to have made it this far. I'm an _extremely_ slow writer, largely due to the fact that I am a graduate student in a demanding program that requires me to be at school for more than twelve hours a day. As a result, it takes forever for me to edit anything of considerable size.

This shouldn't discourage you from following the story's progression. I may take a while longer than you'd like to update, but I can at least promise to never abandon my stories. I've been working on UtS in particular for years, and I love it enough to write it to the end.

In any case, I'm continually trying to become a better writer, but it's difficult to know where to improve if I'm not getting any feedback. So if you'd like the quality of what you're reading to get better and you're feeling generous, please leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts whether they're good, bad, or somewhere in between.

Thanks for reading! I hope to see you all again in a future review.

– T.


	2. Introductions

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**  
Author's Notes:** As always, thanks to Trisha for beta-reading this for me.

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**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter II: Introductions_

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Izumi Koushiro surveyed the room.

Two bunk beds. Two large wardrobes. One long granite counter top with a sink. Five light fixtures, a clean, but worn, rug on the floor. One large window that had a view facing the many trees of the forest, one doorway (which he was currently standing in), and what appeared to be a broken temperature monitor next to the outdated light switch. The walls and floor were of an aged wood that presently couldn't be identified, but wouldn't stay a mystery much longer if Koushiro had his way.

_Not bad_, Koushiro thought, nodding.

His observant black eyes caught sight of three plug outlets near the floor, in between the bunk beds, and a smile spread across his face.

_Perfect_.

"Well, guys, it appears that our room is in good working order," Koushiro announced, rolling his luggage in from the doorway so that he could begin unpacking.

Taichi and Yamato entered after him, each carrying the suitcases that held their belongings for the next two weeks. Taichi dropped his bags down before running over to the window to look outside, and Yamato set his luggage down next to him as he looked around the room. The approval was obvious on Yamato's face. "It's more modern than I expected it to be," Yamato said, glancing at Koushiro. "I pictured something rougher when the packet said that the 'rustic' cabins were in the mountainside. This actually isn't so bad."

"Without a doubt," Koushiro agreed. He heaved his bags up to rest on the shelves of the wardrobe. "I suppose we should start claiming who wants which bed?" he asked them as he unzipped his things. "I hope neither one of you mind if I take one of the bottom bunks, for the obvious reason that it'll be easier for my battery recharger to be close by the electric outlet."

"Nah, we're good," Taichi said easily, rolling his head as he turned back to face the room. "We understand. If you don't mind, Koushiro, I'm going to take your top bunk."

"What about you, Yamato?" Koushiro asked as he pulled out his sleeping bag.

"I think I'll wait to claim my bed after we know for sure if anyone else is going to be sharing a room with us. I don't want to make them take a bed they don't want." Yamato shrugged as he lifted up his bags to push them into the wardrobes. "Don't want to get off on the wrong foot, especially if they're going to be stuck with us as roommates."

"I forgot about that." When the buses had arrived to the camp earlier that day, the counselors in charge had told them that everyone was allowed to pick their own roommates, so long as males and females did not share the same cabin and that there were four to every room in the cabins. Koushiro, Yamato, and Taichi had, of course, chosen to stay together and managed to claim a room. "I suppose we'll have to wait for someone to come by, looking for a spare bed then." Koushiro made a face as his sleeping bag got stuck.

"Need some help with that, man?" Taichi helped Koushiro roll out the sleeping bag on the bottom bunk before joking, "Well, maybe if we're lucky, no one will want to bunk with us once they figure out that I snore and Yamato talks in his sleep."

"I don't talk in my sleep!"

The three boys continued to unpack their belongings, Yamato and Taichi razzing each other good-naturedly while Koushiro interrupted occasionally to keep them from actually roughhousing. After a few minutes of this, movement by the doorway caught Koushiro's attention. A lanky, dark-haired teenage boy about their age edged into the room nervously. "Excuse me, but do you have another roommate yet?" the boy asked. "I've looked up and down the hallway, but everywhere else is full."

Taichi stood up immediately. "No, come on in! We have room."

"Thanks." The boy sounded both surprised and relieved when Taichi helped him bring his things into the wardrobe. When they were done, he quickly bowed in gratefulness to them. "My name is Hayate. Thanks for letting me be your roommate."

"Hello," Koushiro said, standing up. "I'm Koushiro."

Taichi winked at Hayate. "I'm Taichi." He struck a pose. "I'm the captain of the varsity soccer team at Odaiba High. Ever heard of me?"

"I can't say I have, sorry," Hayate apologized. Koushiro caught Yamato's eyes and they both looked away, trying not to laugh.

"Oh. That's cool."

"I'm Yamato. Welcome," Yamato said, lifting his chin up in greeting when he could look at Hayate with a straight face again.

"Ishida Yamato? From the Teenage Wolves?" Hayate asked, surprised. Koushiro struggled not to burst out laughing again when he saw the indignant look on Taichi's face.

Once Taichi recovered, the boys managed to quickly welcome Hayate into their midst. Koushiro took immediately to Hayate; he was curious and courteous in a way that Koushiro himself could identify with. Hayate was also reserved, but between Taichi's enthusiasm and Koushiro's own inquisitive questions, they'd managed to coax Hayate to become more talkative. After some conversation, they discovered that Hayate went to a high school in Kiba, not at all far away from Odaiba, and that he took a load of coursework at school advanced enough to rival even Jyou's.

The most important thing that they discovered (in Koushiro's opinion), however, was that Hayate admitted that he had enrolled into the computer programming courses while they were at the summer camp.

"Really?" Koushiro asked, pleased. "I am too! How prodigious that we happen to be in the same class together."

Hayate's eyes lit up with genuine excitement that Koushiro knew was mirrored in his own black eyes. "I wonder what they'll be teaching us here? An overall class to computer programming, or do you think they'll show us something more specialized?"

"Personally, I'm hoping that our instructors will allow us to pursue the specialties of computer programming, in the interest of allowing more advanced students to progress. Do you have a specialty in programming?"

"Digital integration," Hayate replied. "I enjoy the challenge of synchronizing two different platforms. What about you, Koushiro?"

"Definitely coding," Koushiro said decisively. "Figuring out the right codes is such an amazing puzzle to solve. The possibilities are endless and provide infinite areas of exploration."

"Hey, guys," Taichi interrupted then. "You don't mind if Yamato and I go and take a look around camp, do you?"

"No, of course," Koushiro said, a little embarrassed that he'd completely forgotten that Taichi and Yamato were still in the room with them when he and Hayate had gotten carried away. "We'll see you at dinner?"

"Yeah. We'll save you a spot," Yamato replied. "See you guys later."

Koushiro and Hayate waved at Taichi and Yamato before jumping back into discussing preferred fields of programming.

_Finally, someone who will understand what I'm talking about_, Koushiro thought with a satisfied smile.

* * *

On the other side of the camp, in the girls' area, Takenouchi Sora sat on the edge of her bunk bed, watching her roommates as they unpacked their things. Wakana was friendly enough, Sora supposed. She was warm, outgoing. Sora felt that they would get along well with each other.

She wasn't sure, though, what to think about Kiku.

"Like, did you _see_ how many cute guys there are here?" Kiku was gushing as she shook out her sleeping bag. "More cute guys than I expected, you know. At my school, the guys are all right. They're decent-looking. But here," she paused to whistle, "they're so _fine_!"

"There are some good-looking guys here," Wakana agreed. Sora thought she looked amused by Kiku's stream of words, judging from Wakana's slight smile. "It's a plus. But I'm more concerned about the classes. I hope that the instructors are nice."

"They probably are," Sora volunteered. "I don't think that being a camp teacher would pay a lot of money, so they wouldn't do it unless they enjoyed being around teens like us."

"But like," Kiku interrupted, "what do you guys think are the chances that I'll have a cute guy in my class?"

"You're doing the business classes, right?" Sora checked.

"Yeah." Kiku's dark brown hair bounced around her shoulders.

"Then, probably yes," Sora said. "Guys like doing business."

"Ooh, that's good!" Kiku clapped her hands together excitedly. "What classes are you two taking?"

"Music, for me," Wakana said with a shy smile, sitting down on her bunk bed. "I play the cello."

"How long have you been playing for?" Sora asked curiously.

"Since the fourth grade. I took free lessons from school, then wheedled my parents into letting me take private lessons." She looked uncomfortable with talking about herself, because the next that Wakana said was, "What about you, Sora? What are you taking?"

"I'm doing the exploratory classes," Sora admitted, a little embarrassed by her indecision. "I know that I'll probably end up doing something in the arts, but I'm not exactly sure yet specifically what I want to do."

"Well, this is, like, a good opportunity for you then!" Kiku said, beaming. "You have to keep us updated on how all of your classes go!"

"I will," Sora promised, involuntarily smiling at Kiku's enthusiasm. She glanced out the window then. "Let's go outside and take a look around," she suggested. "It doesn't look like we'll be having a fourth roommate, so we have some time to walk around before dinner."

The other two agreed, and all three girls walked out to the camp grounds together. The mountain air was fresh and chilly, Sora noticed, and the smell of the nature around them was peaceful and aged in a way that the city wasn't. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed being away from the bustle of the city, in a place where they could feel the earth beneath their feet and clean air in every breath. It gave the camp a calming feeling.

Some other students had already ventured outside, Sora noticed, and they were standing in little groups, covertly watching other newcomers as they trickled out slowly out of each cabin. She and Wakana talked about past experiences in camps while Kiku punctuated their conversations by providing steady commentary of any noteworthy boys that caught her eye. The girl's antics certainly made Sora and Wakana both laugh a fair share.

"He looks like a Greek _god_," Kiku moaned quietly as they slowly walked in another boy's direction. Sora glanced at him as they passed - a boy their age, with curly russet colored hair and green eyes. "Absolutely gorgeous. And, like, those high cheekbones and long lashes are _such_ a waste on a boy."

"Kiku, you're incorrigible." Wakana laughed again.

"What?" Kiku demanded. "I have every right to look and admire pretty - _oh!_" The girl sucked in a sudden breath. She suddenly grabbed Wakana and Sora's arms, holding them so tightly that Sora felt like the circulation in her arm had suddenly been cut off.

"What's the matter, Kiku?" Sora asked.

"Look over there, two o' clock," Kiku said. "Two gorgeous guys are _totally _checking us out!" Kiku let go of the girl's arms and ran her hand through her hair to smooth it out.

"Even cuter than the Greek God?" Sora teased.

"Well, it's a close one. But still, like, totally hot!"

"What are you talking about, Kiku?" Wakana asked, confused. "I don't see anybody looking at us." On the other side of the camp, a bell rang.

Sora said, "That's the dinner bell."

"Oh, just look, really quick! It won't take long. Look to the right. A little more. _More_. Okay, stop! Do you see them?"

Sora and Wakana both looked. "Oh, I see them," Wakana said. "The blond and brunet?"

"Yes, yes, that's them! Do you see them, Sora?" Kiku asked.

Sora focused her eyes as she scanned over the heads of people heading to the mess hall. "Blond and brunet," she murmured under her breath as she searched. When she finally saw them, she began to smile when she recognized that it was Taichi and Yamato. Taichi waved energetically at her once she caught sight of them, and Yamato smiled slightly when he followed Taichi's gaze. Sora couldn't help but wave back.

"You know them, Sora?" Wakana asked, surprised as the two boys began walking slowly in their direction.

"Yes. Taichi and Yamato are my friends. I convinced them to come to camp with me," Sora explained.

"Sora! You didn't tell us you had such cute friends! You'll introduce us, right?" Kiku said, her eyes bright as she studied them.

"Of course I will." Sora laughed. "Just try not to act like a fangirl around them, okay?"

* * *

After dinner was over, Taichi leaned back in his chair, balancing it - like always - on its back legs. _Overall, not a bad start to this camp thing_, Taichi thought with approval as he looked around the mess hall. _Not a bad start at all._

The food was decent (definitely safer than his mom's experiments), and the company was pretty good. Hayate and Koushiro got along well, which Taichi was thankful for. He didn't know how he and Yamato would cope if Koushiro spouted out every technical term he learned in classes to them, expecting them to fully comprehend the boy's genius. At least Hayate would be able to give Koushiro the kind of discussion that he longed for. Even now, they were still discussing their favorite parts of computer programming, completely ignoring the plates of dessert in front of them.

_Speaking of dessert_, Taichi thought as he leaned forward slightly so that he could grab another slice of pie. "This stuff is pretty good, Yamato," Taichi remarked to his best friend after he bit off a piece. "How come you don't make me dessert like this?"

"Because I know that you'd crash over at my place to raid the fridge if you did." Yamato glanced at Taichi, one eyebrow cocked as if to say '_I dare you to deny it_'.

Taichi laughed and punched Yamato in the shoulder. "I'm touched that you know me so well, man."

"It's practically been six years. It'd be sad if I didn't."

"True, very true." Taichi chewed another piece of pie as he watched the girls talk across the table. Sora was totally engrossed in a conversation with Wakana (was that her name? In any case, the girl with really short black hair), and the girl with dark brown hair (Kiki? Kiku? Taichi couldn't remember) was talking with them occasionally. Most of the time, though, she kept throwing glances in his and Yamato's direction. Taichi smirked. It was easy to see that she had already fallen to their charm. "Yamato."

"What?" Yamato glanced at Taichi.

"Stop brooding for a second and tell me what you think of Sora's new friends," Taichi said, setting his empty plate down on the table.

"I was not 'brooding'. Just because I'm not as talkative as you are does not mean that I'm a brooder."

Taichi persisted. "Well, what else am I supposed to call it when you get all quiet and do that creepy thing where you watch people and the way they act and talk?"

Yamato sighed. "What about 'people-watching'?"

"Fine. People-watching. Whatever. So, deal it out. What do you think of Sora's friends?"

Yamato's eyes flickered toward the girls before looking back at Taichi. "They're all right. Seems that they like Sora, which is good," he said hedgingly.

"What else?" Taichi asked impatiently.

He sighed again and reached out for his glass. "Why don't you just tell me what exactly you want to hear?"

"_I_ think that Kiki -"

"Kiku."

"Yeah, whatever. I think she likes us. What do you think?"

Yamato drank deeply. "She's intrigued by us. As far as I can tell, Kiku doesn't feel shy about checking out guys."

"Probably more intrigued by _you_ than by me," Taichi mused. He wasn't a fool; he knew that girls loved Yamato because the guy was so mysterious and, well, _cool_. But Taichi was also well-aware that girls loved _him_ because of his larger-than-life presence. Or at least, that's what Hikari had told him. "Anyway, she'll figure out sooner or later that she doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell with you. So no worries."

"Why's that?" Yamato asked, looking at Taichi.

Taichi realized that he'd accidentally said more than he'd wanted. "Because once she does, she'll realize that her time would be better spent being intrigued about _me_," he recovered. He lowered his voice and winked at Yamato, "Summer romance, here I come, huh?"

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, man."

The both of them began to laugh when, across the hall, the counselors stood up and tried to get everyone's attention. Taichi and Yamato both fell quiet with the rest of the hall and waited for the counselors to say whatever it was that they wanted to say.

"Welcome to Camp Odake," one of the counselors said when they had everyone's attention. "I am Counselor Ran, the Head Counselor for this Career Camp. We counselors just wish to welcome you hear to Camp Odake, and we hope that, by the camp's end, you will leave with a better understanding of yourself and the field of study that you want to pursue..."


	3. A Brewing Storm

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. iTunes belongs to Apple Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**  
Author's Notes:** This chapter is currently unedited. Nonetheless, please read, enjoy, and review.

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter III: A Brewing Storm_

* * *

Kiku felt suddenly elated at Taichi's words. "You have business too?" she demanded, grinning as she leaned across the table. "Why didn't you say anything about it last night? You could've told me!"

She watched Taichi smile - it was a cocky, crooked-but-still-cute kind of smile, one that totally brought out the gorgeousness of his eyes - back at her. "It never came up," he said, lifting his shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. "But hey, now you know. Are you looking forward to class?"

"Definitely," Kiku agreed, bobbing her head up and down in enthusiasm. _And of course, I'm looking forward to it even more now that _you're _taking it too. _"Aren't you? I wonder what we'll be doing today," she mused, tapping her finger against her chin.

Taichi ruffled his hair with a hand, making it stand up even more. "Probably just something basic, like introducing ourselves and outlining what kinds of things we'll be doing. The usual." His warm brown eyes flickered down at the table in front of him and immediately became distracted in something else. "You gonna finish that, Yamato?" Taichi asked, pointing at the stack of pancakes in front of his best friend.

"Nah, go ahead." Yamato was too busy considering all the people in the mess hall to concern himself with his food. "Why do you even bother asking at this point?"

Kiku watched as Taichi merely slid his best friend's plate in front of him and moved his fork to make quick word of the rejected pancakes. She couldn't help but shake her head in amazement. "You have, like, the single hugest appetite I've ever seen, Taichi, you know that? I'm surprised that you're still eating after all those sausages you ate earlier," she said, careful to put an admiring spin on her words so that Taichi wouldn't take it the wrong way.

It worked. "An athlete of my caliber needs to get his energy somewhere," Taichi defended himself, but he waggled his eyebrows at her nonetheless. Kiku giggled at his expression, pleased that he was so easy-going about it.

One of the laptops at the table beeped. "Guys, we should get going," Koushiro announced to the table at large, "or we'll be late for class."

Taichi gave a start. "Whoa, already? Dang, I haven't even gotten to finish all of these pancakes yet." He eyed the remaining food speculatively, but then shook his head before he returned his attention back to Kiku. "Wanna walk to business together?" Taichi asked her, flashing Kiku another bright smile. "I hear you're headed the same way."

Kiku felt her heart flutter, but with an effort to appear cool about the whole thing, she said quickly, "Let me see if it's okay with my roommates first." She turned to Wakana and Sora. "Is it all right with you guys?" she asked them carefully with her back to the soccer player. Silently, she let them see in her eyes how excited she was that Taichi had offered to walk with her. "You don't mind, do you?"

Sora gave her a knowing smile and shrugged. "No, of course not. You go on ahead with Taichi."

Kiku mouthed '_Thanks_' to Sora before turning toward the other girl. "Wakana?"

"I'm headed in the other direction with Yamato anyway. I don't mind."

Kiku glanced over her shoulder, where Taichi and Yamato were both talking to each other. As much as she liked Taichi, Kiku wasn't so blind that she couldn't see how attractive Yamato was either. She sighed as she returned her attention back to her girl friends. "You guys are both _so_ lucky," she whispered to Wakana. "Yamato is just about the hottest guy ever, but I don't even know how to _talk _to him without getting totally tongue-tied. And you can just talk to him about, like, orchestra and stuff." She sighed at the unfortunate circumstances. "And Sora's known Yamato since childhood. Isn't that all the luck?"

Wakana and Sora exchanged a glance with each other, and Sora's lips pressed together in a line. "Um, Taichi's not so bad either," Wakana said. Kiku thought that Wakana's voice sounded strange for some reason, but Kiku couldn't figure out why. Her roommates could be totally cryptic when they wanted to be, sometimes.

"Oh well. Taichi's more my type, you know? Outgoing and totally athletic," Kiku said, bringing their attention back to her after a short and awkward silence. "Anyway, gotta go. I can't leave Taichi waiting. See you guys at lunch, okay?"

"I'll see you both later, Wakana, Kiku," Sora said, glancing at the guys behind Kiku before nodding goodbye. "Whoever comes here first saves a table?"

Kiku and Wakana both agreed to the arrangement before Sora walked away and they headed back to Yamato and Taichi. "Ready to go?" Yamato asked Wakana.

Kiku shot Wakana a wink, and Wakana rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Bye, guys," she added. Yamato and Taichi knocked their fists together before Yamato left to go to class with Wakana.

Kiku watched her go and sighed once in brief jealousy. Then she looked at Taichi, who was waiting expectantly. _A bird in the hand…_"Let's go, soccer boy," she said in mock-severity. "Or else we'll be late!"

Taichi chuckled. "Yes ma'am," he said, clapping a salute that sent Kiku in a bout of giggles before they rushed out of the mess hall to find their business class cabin. They battled their way through the crowds of people heading to their own classes, and more than once, Kiku felt a thrill of happiness pass through her when Taichi touched her elbow lightly to guide her through the camp path.

They managed to find the business cabin just when the bell rang. Taichi found them both seats near the back of the room, and Kiku looked around at the other students in the class as she sat down. There were a few people that she recognized from school, but everyone else were barely familiar faces that she had only seen for the first time yesterday.

Most of the guys in the class (there were only a handful of other females in the room) were only mildly cute, though - no where near as handsome as Taichi's rugged good-looks. She couldn't suppress a small smile when she realized that Taichi's looks hadn't escaped the other girls' notice either. A few looked at the soccer star wistfully, and Kiku's friend from school, Suzu, could only shake her head. Kiku winked back.

Their business teacher made his entrance then. He had bleached, short hair, and wore black framed glasses, making him look very intelligent. "Hey guys," their teacher said, lifting a hand in a hello gesture as he made his way to the center of the cabin room. He waited until everyone quieted before he continued. "Welcome to the business crash course at Camp Odake. You guys can call me Hiroyuki. A little bit about myself - I'm still a student at the University of Tokyo, getting a degree in economics. A friend of mine got a summer job here, and I thought it would be cool to help out too."

Hiroyuki zipped open his bag and took out a stack of paper. He began to walk around the class, handing everyone a piece of paper. Kiku murmured a soft "Thank you" when she received hers. She scanned the paper quickly and glanced at Taichi. "What's all this for?" Kiku whispered to him, confused by the seemingly random names of different items. Household products, book titles, CD's, fabrics, and foods – there didn't seem to be any connection to the items in the list.

"I have no idea," Taichi replied under his breath, his brow creased as he looked at the paper in his own hand with perplexity.

Hiroyuki was waving his copy of the piece of paper in the air to get their attention. "Now, if you'll look at the list, you'll see that there is a rather long list of items. The way I've arranged it makes it look rather random, and I apologize for that - I procrastinated on this until the last minute," he admitted. Kiku laughed quietly with a few other students at this honest remark. "For now, though, the items on list themselves are not that important. What _is_ important is how you obtain them."

There was a brief silence as the students all considered this information. Kiku frowned, confused. Then: "This is a scavenger hunt, then?" a tall boy with spiky black hair at the front of the class asked.

Hiroyuki nodded approvingly. "Good deduction. This _is _a scavenger hunt." He paced around, making eye contact with everyone. "If you want to succeed in business, the first rule to follow if you want to be successful is to make sure that you make a lot of profit from your services or items that you are marketing. What is the basic principle on how to achieve that?"

"Buy low, and then sell high," someone called out.

Hiroyuki nodded again. "Right. Buy low, sell high. It's a simple, straight-forward concept. All business is fueled by the desire to make a lot of profit, and the easiest way to do that is by buying your products at a low price and then convincing people to buy them at a higher price. So, for the first assignment of this class, you'll be practicing the first part of that equation: learning how to buy things at the lowest price that you can find. And what better way to do that than by partaking in a scavenger hunt?

"Here's how we'll be doing this assignment. I want everyone to split up into groups of four and come up with a team name of some sort. Choose carefully; you'll be with this team for the rest of camp. I'm assuming that you all know at least one other person here, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Then, once you have that settled, I want you all to brainstorm for ideas on the best way to carry out your scavenger hunt.

"You can take the afternoon to do make some more preparations if necessary. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, I'll give each group a certain amount of money and take you all back into the city so that you can do your hunting. We won't be there all day – just for the morning – so we'll go back the day after as well so you guys have time to pick up any items that you may have missed. Does that sound good?" Everyone agreed enthusiastically to the plan. "All right. Now, go ahead and find team members. If you don't know anyone else here and would like me to put you in a group, feel free to ask."

Kiku turned to Taichi as soon as Hiroyuki finished talking. She held out a hand to him. "Partners?" Kiku asked, smiling her most attractive grin at him.

Taichi grinned back as well and shook her hand. His hand was large, but warm. Kiku felt the electricity stream between them, and her heart thumped unevenly in her chest even after he let go. "Partners," he agreed. "But we still need two more people for this to be a real team. Do you know anyone else here who could partner up with us?"

"I think so… let's look." Kiku withdrew her hand and put it on her lap. It still tingled, and there was a distinct possibility that she wouldn't be using her hand to shake anyone else's for a while.

Taichi was scanning the faces of the other students in the room, and Kiku looked around as well to be helpful. Maybe she could ask one of her friends from school to join their team…. "Hey, Kohei! Over here!" Taichi suddenly called. Kiku glanced in the direction that Taichi was waving and noticed that the tall boy with black hair was making his way toward them. "Kohei, this is Kiku. Kiku, Kohei," Taichi introduced the two of them.

Kohei sat down in the chair closest to them. "Hey, Kiku."

"Nice to meet you," Kiku grinned brightly up at the tall boy. "Let me guess: basketball?"

Kohei chuckled. "Actually, no. I play soccer at Fussa High. That's how I know this loser," he said, elbowing Taichi in the ribs.

"Still bitter about that last match, huh, Kohei?" Taichi countered smugly.

Kohei scoffed. "As if. That match was a fluke, and you know it."

"Or maybe you just don't want to admit that you had your butt handed back to you on a platter by me and my team."

"Keep it clean, guys," Kiku interrupted, wanting to keep the peace between her team members. She waved when she caught Suzu's attention to bring her over. The other girl hesitated, sizing up the boys that sat near Kiku, but followed obediently. "This is my friend Suzu from school," Kiku said when Suzu sat down next to Kiku. "Suzu, meet Taichi and Kohei, soccer stars from Odaiba and Fussa respectively."

Suzu brushed her violet-dyed hair back behind her ears. "Hey," she said nervously. Kiku didn't blame her. Sitting next to the two athletes was a pretty overwhelming experience.

"Nice to meet you," Taichi said, extending a hand to shake Suzu's unsure one. Kiku felt a flare of jealousy shoot through her, but was satisfied when Suzu dropped Taichi's shake as soon as it was polite to do so. Taichi didn't notice. Instead, he rubbed his hands together. "All righty then. Seeing as we've assembled our team now, we need to come up with a team name."

"I suggest something soccer related." Kohei grinned, but Suzu shook her head.

"Not all of us play soccer," she pointed out. Kiku frowned slightly at Suzu's disapproving tone and Suzu began to backtrack when Taichi shrugged.

"It was just a suggestion. We don't have to, of course," Taichi said apologetically, shooting a look of his own at Kohei. "Let's try to come up with a name that we all like, okay?"

It took them a while - with a good deal of persuasion for all the sides involved - before they finally agreed on the name 'Team Platinum'. Personally, Kiku wasn't all that thrilled with the name, but when Taichi seemed like it and Kohei and Suzu managed to actually agree that it was a good name, she kept the sentiment to herself. Besides, there were more important matters to attend to beside the team name, and Kiku didn't want Taichi to think that she was petty enough to complain about something like a team name. "So, everyone, what do you all think would be a good idea to do this scavenger hunt thing?" Kiku spoke up, shifting the conversation to the task at hand.

"Well, we should probably go to places that are cheap, like thrift stores and stuff," Kohei said rubbing his temple as he thought. "That would be a good place to start."

"We could try to go to the flea market too. They have some really inexpensive things there." Suzu glanced at Kiku. "Don't you think so?"

"Yeah, and we'd be able to, like, haggle with the vendors for some good deals too." Kiku smiled. "I'll bet we'll be able to find most of the things on our list at the flea market really cheap."

Taichi scratched his head with his hand. "We'll probably have to split up tomorrow, in order to get all of these things within the time limit. We should do some research during break. Do you want to ask Koushiro if we can borrow his laptop?" he added, turning to face Kiku. "You know, we could use the laptop to find the best prices online, to give us an idea of what to expect the prices to be. We don't want to be cheated into paying more than we need to at the market."

"That's a great idea, Taichi!" Kiku readily enthused. "In fact, I think that if we check out the list now and, like, write down the prices of things that we already know, it will save us a whole lot of time."

The members of Team Platinum all pulled out their lists and got to work. Kiku subtly pulled her chair closer to Taichi's. When he looked up and flashed his crooked smile at her, her heart began to thump unevenly again.

_I knew going to camp was going to be a good idea._

* * *

On the other side of the camp, Wakana was secretly wondering if coming to camp was turning out to be a bad idea after all.

It wasn't that Wakana didn't like the people she had met so far. Sora was kind and level-headed, balancing out Kiku's enthusiasm for all things related to boys. Wakana had fun talking to both of them. Their meal time friends were nice enough as well, Taichi, Koushiro, and Hayate all having been more than cordial with Wakana since they'd met. And though Yamato – who was sitting by her side, completely absorbed in their teacher's introduction to music class - _was_ rather intimidating to strike up conversation with, the totally self-possessed indie rock star was friendly and much more down-to-earth than Wakana had expected him to be.

Nor did Wakana dislike her music teacher. She had to admit though that the teacher, a young woman named Manami with long black hair and kind brown eyes, had turned out to be a lot more laid-back than Wakana had originally expected their music teacher to be. Manami was very calm and easy-going, and it was clear from the way that she talked about her experiences with music that she was passionate about what she was doing. After so many years with underpaid, grumpy public school music teachers, Manami's disposition was a welcome change to Wakana. The older woman reminded Wakana of why she liked music so much in the first place.

Despite all of these plus sides to camp, her new friends and Manami were the _only _bright spots. None of Wakana's friends from school had wanted to come to the camp, busy as they would be with finding jobs and working internships, so she didn't have her usual companions in orchestra with her. And of those that she did recognize in the orchestra, Wakana was none too pleased to see.

On the other side of the room, Ito Kosuke sat staring at Manami with a bored expression on his face. When Wakana had first entered the room, Yamato following behind her, Kosuke gave them both a disdainful once-over before turning away, apparently deigning them both unworthy of his time. Yamato hadn't noticed the other boy, but Wakana had – and it bothered her. The previous summer, she had been a member of the Tokyo Youth Orchestra alongside Kosuke, and she knew well from experience that although Kosuke was a very talented violinist, he was also an arrogant one. It was clear from his attitude that he had still yet to change for the better.

Despite his foul personality – _Or perhaps because of it, _Wakana thought wryly - Kosuke had many friends in the orchestra, people who were just as rude as he was. Wakana knew to expect a few of his followers to come to camp with him, but the sheer number of Kosuke's gang - making up at least half of the camp orchestra - was enough to make Wakana wonder if it would really be worth it for her to stay and endure their snooty personalities for yet another summer.

In the midst of her musings, Wakana realized that Manami had suddenly left to go to a side room of the cabin building, and the other musicians had turned to each other and begun to chatter loudly. Wakana gave a start; in getting caught up in her thoughts, she had completely missed the last part of Manami's introduction. Embarrassed by her lack of attentiveness, Wakana turned to Yamato and tentatively asked, "Um, I kind of dazed off for a moment back there. What did Manami say before she left?"

"She said that she was just going to go and get her outline of the class schedule. She'll be right back." Yamato smiled easily at Wakana and asked curiously, "What were you dazing off about?"

Wakana smiled back hesitantly. "Nothing that interesting," she admitted. "I was just thinking about the other musicians in this class. I've met some of them before."

"Oh. Are they friends of yours?"

"No!" she blurted out without thinking, and then blushed when she realized that her abrupt answer could be easily misinterpreted by someone as perceptive as Yamato. "I mean, I'm just, um, acquaintances with a few of them. That's all." Wakana laughed uneasily.

Yamato's dark blue eyes leveled on her for a silent moment, making her feel slightly uncomfortable, before he nodded. Wakana felt relieved that he was willing to leave it alone, though she was absolutely positive that he had gleaned more from her reaction than he'd let on. "Which ones are you talking about?" he asked instead, tilting his head to the side toward their fellow classmates.

Wakana glanced over to where Kosuke sat, his friends speaking raucously all around him. Kosuke himself had a half-smile on his face, seemingly tolerating his followers' noise, but his own eyes looked discontented. "That group over there," Wakana said, lifting her chin slightly to indicate the direction. "I was with them in the summer Tokyo Youth Orchestra last year. The guy in the middle with brown hair - his name is Ito Kosuke - was concertmaster of the orchestra."

Yamato looked over to where the group sat and watched them. "He must be very talented, then, to be concertmaster of a symphonic orchestra as well-known as the Tokyo Youth Orchestra," Yamato mused. Wakana nodded in agreement.

"He's very good. Kosuke's been playing the violin since he was a child, or at least, that's what I've heard. Our conductor at the Tokyo Orchestra believed that Kosuke's pretty much a prodigy at his instrument."

Yamato turned his eyes on her again. "You don't sound like you like him very much," he observed lightly, almost teasingly. "Why is that?"

Wakana stared back at Yamato, startled. She was right; he _was_ perceptive. "What do you mean?" she asked, stalling for time to think of an adequate answer that wouldn't make her sound immature and whiny.

"I'm not trying to interrogate you or anything," Yamato said reassuringly, his eyes taking in her expression. "I was just wondering, since you seem on pretty good terms with everyone else, what it is about Kosuke that fails to endear him to you. You don't have to answer, if I'm being unnecessarily nosy. I'll understand." He smiled briefly when she remained quiet, and Wakana couldn't help but laugh softly.

"Well, I guess I can tell you. If you promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone else." She looked anxiously at him, and Yamato mimed zipping his mouth.

"Not a word, got it."

Wakana couldn't help but laugh again. "Okay. Well… Mostly, it's Kosuke's arrogance that bothers me. I mean, he's good and all at what he does. But he doesn't have to act so...," Wakana gesticulated with her hands, unable to find the right words, "um, I guess… _condescending _to everyone else."

Yamato shrugged, but frowned sympathetically. "Makes sense though. If he's as talented as you said he is, it's bound to give him a big head." Yamato made a face. "Kind of like Taichi. The guy's a genius at soccer, but then he always brags about it when he's off the field too…. Oh, Manami's back."

Wakana turned in her seat away from Yamato and watched Manami cross the room to sit on a stool in the center of the room. Their teacher's hands were clasped on her lap, holding a piece of paper, as she waited patiently for the talking to die down. Wakana waited as well, determined this time to pay better attention. When the spotlight of the room was on her once more, Manami spoke clearly to the room.

"Okay everyone, I found the schedule that I had mapped out. This is what we're going to be doing over the span of the next two weeks." Manami lifted the piece of paper up and began to read from it. "The first three days of class, I'll be giving you all time to prepare your pieces to audition for chairs in the orchestra. The concertmaster will be decided from these scores as well."

Manami paused as Kosuke's friends all murmured and nudged the brown-haired boy before she continued speaking again. "Following those three days, you'll all be breaking up and working in sectionals for the rest of the first week to make sure that your section is in-sync with one another. During the second week, we'll come together in a full orchestra arrangement and practice together. On the last day of camp – when the entire camp showcases what they've learned - we'll be giving a concert to showcase the music that we've been working on. Does that sound good to everyone?"

"I have a question about the audition process," Kosuke drawled and raising an index finger before the class could give their collective approval. Wakana rolled her eyes, but Manami nodded to him. Kosuke continued, "Will we be playing a piece that you give us, or can we choose a piece of our own?"

"I'll have everyone perform a piece of my choosing," Manami answered. "It will be much easier for me to assess the abilities of each of you if you are all playing the same music. Not only that, but if I allow students to choose their own songs, it would give an unfair advantage to those who have had done solos before."

Wakana smiled. _So Manami recognizes Kosuke, then, _Wakana thought. _At least she's fair about it and won't bow to favoritism._

This answer seemed to more or less satisfy Kosuke, and he leaned back lazily in his chair once again. With the only question raised out of the way, Manami gestured to the table behind her. "The sheets of music for all instruments are on that table. Feel free to take your part now and start practicing during the afternoon break if you want. If you need help with the music in any way, I'll be available here so don't hesitate to ask. I promise that it won't hurt your score if you come to me for help in practicing the music."

People started to get up slowly to find their sheet music, and the talking started up again. "Cello, right?" Yamato asked as he got up, stopping Wakana from standing up as well. "Don't worry about it, I'll find it for you."

"Yeah, cello. Thanks, Yamato."

"No problem."

He made his way into the throng, and Wakana watched him smile easily at the other people around the table. Unsurprisingly, a few girls had already recognized him and accosted him, and Yamato good-naturedly listened to their enthusiastic gushing. _He's such a nice guy, _Wakana thought as Yamato readily signed one girl's notebook. _Sora was right. There's a lot more to Yamato than just good looks. It's no wonder she looked so mad this morning when Kiku just when on and on about how hot he was. I'd be mad too._

Wakana's thoughts were brought to a standstill by someone obstructing her view. She looked up slowly, already guessing who could possibly want to talk to her, and saw that Kosuke was standing in front of her. A few of his lackeys stood not that far back away from him, varying expressions of amusement and haughtiness on their faces. "Tanaka, right?" Kosuke said, looking at her intently. His face was indifferent – a fake expression, Wakana was sure. "The cellist from last year's Tokyo Youth Orchestra."

She stood so that she could look him in the eyes. He was slightly taller than her, but Wakana didn't back down. "Ito Kosuke. Last year's concertmaster," she repeated in the same tone. Her eyes locked with his, daring him to look away.

"Yes." Kosuke appraised her with a smirk, and Wakana pushed her hands into her pockets as they curled into fists, not wanting his followers to see. "How was your school year? Have you improved any since last summer?" His friends snickered behind him, but Wakana held her head up high despite the blush she felt rising in her cheeks.

"Plenty, thanks for asking," Wakana said acidly. "And you? I remember you had trouble with shifting to those higher notes last summer. You're not screeching anymore, are you?"

Kosuke's gaze narrowed. "No, I am not," he said darkly. "Thank you for your concern."

They glared at each other in silence before Wakana said, irritated, "Ito, spare me the theatrics already. I know you didn't come over here for some meaningless small talk, so why don't you just say what you came here to say?" Kosuke's friends hissed at her words, but Wakana's eyes didn't shift away from Kosuke's, waiting him to speak.

"Wakana?" Yamato appeared by Wakana's side. Kosuke's eyes slid away from hers, and Wakana glanced at Yamato, who had an intent expression on his face. His eyes flickered back and forth between Kosuke and Wakana's close proximity, and when his face turned concerned, Wakana felt relief course through her body as Yamato angled himself slightly to put himself between Kosuke and her. "What's going on?"

Kosuke looked disgruntled by Yamato's interruption for a fraction of a second, but then his face smoothed into a polite expression. "Actually, I was asking Wakana if she was a good friend of yours," Kosuke said, taking a careful step back to give them some space. He faced his body toward Yamato. "Ishida Yamato of the Teenage Werewolves, am I correct? My friends recognized you." He stuck out a hand in offering to the rock musician.

Yamato's scrutinized Wakana's expression questioningly, as if looking for her approval. She shrugged slightly in answer, and Yamato looked back at Kosuke. They shook hands. "That's right. And you are?" Yamato asked politely.

"Ito Kosuke. I am violinist," Kosuke said while his friends made small noises of indignation at Yamato's ignorance. "I was in the Tokyo Youth Orchestra with Tanaka here last year. She didn't tell you?"

"Wakana didn't have a chance to tell me about her acquaintances before class started," Yamato replied smoothly, slightly emphasizing her first name as he said it. "But I'm sure that she would have eventually."

"I see." Kosuke sized Yamato up with his eyes in that disdainful way that he had done to Wakana when she walked into the room the first time. "Will you be playing the guitar, Yamato? The bass guitar you use for your band hardly has a place in a string orchestra like ours."

"I had a chance to speak with Manami before coming to camp, and she didn't mind that I play the bass so much," Yamato answered mildly, "but thanks for your concern."

There was a short silence as Kosuke digested this. Around them, Wakana noticed that the confrontation between the two boys was starting to attract attention. Some people began to nudge their friends in the ribs to show them what was happening. Kosuke realized this, and he said finally, "Well then, I wish you good luck with your audition. I'll be seeing you around Yamato…Wakana."

"You too," Wakana said under her breath as Kosuke departed, his friends following doggedly in his steps. When they were safely out of earshot and the other people began to mind their own business again, Wakana glanced at Yamato. "See what I meant?" She couldn't help but grimace. "His Royal Highness, complete with a simpering Royal Court. At least, that's what my friends and I nicknamed them last summer."

Yamato grinned knowingly at Wakana. "Yeah, you weren't exactly exaggerating when you described Kosuke earlier." Yamato handed Wakana the cello sheet music that he had been holding since he returned from the table. "Anyway, forget him for a moment. We should check out this music and focus on it instead."

"You're right." Wakana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, I guess we should mark up our measures then, right? We can work on it together, if you want," she offered, feeling suddenly shy.

"Sure." Yamato hesitated, though, and Wakana paused.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, confused.

Yamato admitted, "I don't know how to read music."

The comment threw Wakana off, and all of her irritation and annoyance toward Kosuke flew out of her mind. "What do you mean? You don't know how to read music? But how do you play for your band then?"

Yamato shrugged self-deprecatingly. "I learned to play by ear, since I've never had real lessons before. For the band, I usually either make up my own line to go along with the other's lines, or I memorize how my part is supposed to sound like."

Wakana stared at Yamato for a while longer before shaking her head at him. "You need some help."

He smiled at her. "Will _you_ help me?"

Wakana made the mistake of looking Yamato in the eyes. They were so clear and blue, and had the same effect as puppy eyes did on her. Wakana groaned. "Yamato, please don't. Don't give me that look!"

"Please, Wakana?"

Wakana contemplated resisting, but sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. I'll help you. But only because you're Sora's friend." Wakana grumbled under her breath, though she wasn't really in a bad mood – how could she, with Yamato smiling so broadly? "We have a lot of work to do, though. The one break that we have is that the cello and bass guitar use the same clef, so it shouldn't be _too_ hard to teach you the basics."

"Great," Yamato said breezily.

"Bring me that music stand, will you? We need something to write on."

He found a spare music stand and dragged it over to their chairs. Wakana placed the sheet music on it and opened her bag to take out a pencil. "Okay, music reading for dummies it is."

* * *

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. _A slight pause. _Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap._

Hayate typed furiously, his fingers a constant blur over his laptop's keyboard. He could feel them start to cramp slightly, as his hands had been hovering over his laptop for the past three hours of class. But he couldn't stop. Not now, when he was just so _close_.

The entire room was silent, if one ignored the taps of fingers against boards that were so frequently made that it was almost a continuous hum. It had been a long time since they'd spoken so much as a word to one another, intent as they all were on completing their tasks. Behind them, their teacher Masaru paced quietly, only occasionally bending down to speak with some of the newer students at computer programming who needed his help. But Hayate - and Koushiro as well - were part of the advanced section of the class, and Masaru gave them a freer reign in how they would spend their time.

Of course, it was only inevitable that the advanced students would decide to create their own computer programs over the course of camp. When else would they get an opportunity to be in a group of like-minded individuals who would all be willing to pitch in and help out if one ran into problems with programming?

Each student had a different specialty, which came in handy. So far, Hayate had already been asked for advice from a few other teenagers on how to synchronize different platforms. Likewise, Hayate had turned to Koushiro for assistance in Java scripting, and Koushiro had proven to be every inch the expert at coding that he said he was. Things were progressing very well, all things considered.

_Just one more section_, Hayate thought, his eyes narrowing and his face inching closer to the laptop screen. _Just one -_

A sudden bell resounded through the whole camp. The sound shocked Hayate into accidentally saving and closing the program. He froze, blinking at his screen just like all of the other students, until Masaru called out, "It's time for lunch, everyone. You should all get moving before the lines get long."

Hayate nodded to himself and hurriedly turned off his laptop. When he slid the notebook back into its holder in his bag, Hayate slung it on his back. He found Koushiro waiting for him near the door already. "How far did you get with your program?" Hayate asked as they stepped out into the bright sunshine together.

"Not that far. When the bell rang, it startled me into accidentally closing the program - and I forgot to save!" Koushiro groaned, and Hayate groaned sympathetically as well. It was a programmer's worst nightmare - having made so much progress only to lose it all to some silly mistake.

"That's the worst luck," Hayate said, shaking his head as they climbed the mess hall stairs.

"Luckily, I save my files periodically, so it isn't _as _bad as it could be. Still, it sets me back a few more minutes."

They entered the mess hall, and Hayate saw that it was already starting to fill up. He nodded toward the food line. "If you want, I can go get some food for the both of us while you save a table. I don't see any of the others yet."

"A prodigious idea." Koushiro grinned. "I concur. Get me some noodles? I'm absolutely famished."

Hayate agreed readily and the two split up, Koushiro headed toward their usual table and Hayate got in the shortest line that he found. While he waited in line, he watched the other people chattering loudly to one another as they piled up their trays with food. Hayate recognized a few people from school, but he avoided their glances, making eye contact with the food bar only. When it was his turn, he filled up his tray with some salad for himself and the noodles that Koushiro wanted before carefully making his way back to their group table.

At the table, Hayate saw that Sora had arrived before him, her food in hand. The redheaded girl and Koushiro were already engrossed in a quiet conversation. When Hayate slid into the seat beside Koushiro, they stopped talking. "Thanks for the noodles, Hayate," Koushiro said, popping open the container lid so that he could start eating.

"No problem," Hayate said, shrugging off his laptop bag and placing it on the floor at his feet. He gave Sora a small smile. "Hello, Sora. How was your class today?"

"Hey, Hayate," Sora replied with a warm smile of her own. "My class was all right. I did creative writing today."

Hayate's forehead creased in confusion before he remembered that Sora was taking one of those 'exploratory' classes. She switched subjects everyday until she found a class that she liked. "Did you enjoy it?" Hayate asked politely.

"It was fun, but I don't think writing is for me." Sora shrugged. "What about you? How was your class?"

"It was very enjoyable. Did Koushiro tell you that our teacher is allowing us to create our own computer programs for the duration of our stay here?" Hayate asked her, warming up to the conversation topic.

Sora nodded as she pealed back the lid of her yogurt. "Yes, he did. What program are you planning to create?"

"I'm attempting to synchronize the platforms between a cell phone and iTunes," Hayate responded eagerly. "My goal, in essence, is to turn one's cell phone into an iPod, but with the capabilities to call and text as well."

"That sounds amazing, Hayate," Sora replied.

Hayate nodded, picking up his fork so that he could pick up a salad leaf. "It's a lot of fun. Challenging, but fun."

Sora turned to her friend. "What about you, Koushiro?"

"I'm working on compressing the basic laptop functions into a smaller amount of space in order to make a laptop more efficient. That will also increase the speed of the laptop in general," Koushiro explained after he swallowed the last of his noodles. "With all the programming files that I have installed in my laptop, sometime my most constant annoyance is the fact that it takes such a long amount of time for my laptop to start up so that I can begin working."

Hayate nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. "That _is_ a problem. I have no doubt, however, that as soon as you finish that program, everyone in the class will want to install it onto their own laptops. And you'll be able to patent the program as well."

The three of them continued to chat a while longer as they waited for the rest of their friends to arrive. It was a while to wait, since the lunch lines were on the long side for some reason. Taichi and Kiku were the first to arrive out of the missing members of their table. Laughing and giggling respectively, they immediately brought a sense of excitement and energy to the previously sedate atmosphere of the table.

"Hey, guys," Taichi said upon arriving, sliding into the seat next to Hayate. Kiku sat down beside him. Both carried their on trays of food, though Taichi's tray looked like it had enough sustenance to feed several full-grown people. "Sorry we're late."

"The lines were, like, ridiculously long," Kiku added with a sigh of complaint.

Koushiro smiled as he took out his laptop and turned it on. "But it appears to me that you can't have had to suffer much. Taichi, at least, has enough food to make him happy."

Taichi and Sora laughed while Kiku coughed discreetly behind her hand. Hayate smiled, albeit slightly uneasily. He liked Taichi for sure, but sometimes the other boy's presence made Hayate feel alienated at times because he wasn't as assertive as the soccer player was. "Listen, Koushiro, Kiku and I need a favor," Taichi said, once he recovered.

"What is it?"

"For our business class, we have to do this scavenger hunt type of thing," Taichi said, "and our teacher gave us a list of things that we need to buy for our first task. Do you have your list, Kiku? I lost mine."

Kiku pulled out the aforementioned list from her short's pocket and spread it on the table before sliding it across for Koushiro to look at. Hayate and Sora, both curious, leaned over to take a look as well. Hayate's eyes ran down a list of various items, none of which seemed connected to the other. Sora echoed his sentiment, "It's so random. Are you guys going to a garage sale or something?"

Taichi shook his head. "I just think that our teacher wants us to spread out and do some real legwork, instead of just hitting one spot to get everything."

"How am I supposed to assist you with this, Taichi?" Koushiro asked, looking up from the list.

"We were wondering if we could borrow your laptop for a while. To figure out an estimate of how much we should expect to, like, buy the stuff for when we go shopping tomorrow," Kiku explained. "We don't want to, like, be cheating into paying more than we have to, you know?" She made a face at the statement, as if the very idea that someone would try to cheat her was repulsive.

"I would be amenable to assisting in any way that I can," Koushiro said. "We can work on this after lunch, since we have a long time slot for our break before dinner."

"I'll help as well," Hayate timidly offered. He was intrigued by the idea of a scavenger hunt, and, truth be told, he didn't like feeling left out. "Two laptops are faster than one."

"That sounds great. Thanks for your help, guys." Taichi grinned widely at the both of them. "With a little luck, our group will be the first one done _and _the one who manages to spend the least amount of money."

"That'll get us on Hiroyuki's good side for sure," Kiku added, "which will probably make Suzu and Kohei happy too. Oh! Sora. How was your writing class today?"

"It was all right. I had fun. But I don't think that writing is for me," Sora replied distractedly. Her attention was wandering around the room almost restlessly. Hayate wondered what – or who – she was looking for, but Taichi beat him to it.

"What'cha looking at, Sora?"

Sora paused her survey around the room, her amber eyes settling on Taichi. "I was wondering what happened to Yamato and Wakana. I thought for sure that they would get here before us, since the music room is closer to the mess hall than the writing room was, but I haven't seen them."

"I'm sure there's no cause for worry," Koushiro told Sora in a soothing manner that Hayate didn't understand. Again, it made him feel like an outsider, but Hayate only absentmindedly speared his salad and chewed on a crouton. "Perhaps they were held back by their teacher."

"Yeah, Sora. Chill. They'll get here when they get here," Taichi added.

The three friends exchanged a silent, significant look, wordlessly communicating with one another. Hayate glanced at Kiku, but she was absorbed in taking the green peppers out of her salad and didn't notice. When Hayate looked up again, Sora was looking down at her tray with a discontented expression on her face, Taichi was taking a huge bite out of his hamburger, and Koushiro was waiting patiently for his laptop to finish loading his desktop.

Hayate bit his lip, debating whether or not to ask Koushiro what that was all about, but decided against it. Instead, he booted up his own laptop. "Where do you want to work this afternoon?" Hayate asked Koushiro, Taichi, and Kiku in general. "In the cabins? Or in the computer lab?"

"If we're going to be working together, we should work outside, on the picnic tables," Kiku spoke up, leaning across Taichi so that she could speak with them more easily. "The weather's so nice today. Why would you want to work inside?"

"I doubt that there will be access to an electrical outlet outside the cabins," Koushiro said patiently to the incredulous girl. "Besides, I know exactly what will happen if we work outside on your project. The other business class students will find out what your idea is, and they'll try to do it too. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

"Well, no, but –"

"I thought so." If Hayate didn't know better, he would have thought that Koushiro looked a little smug as he spoke. "And to answer your question, Hayate, I think that we should work in our cabin room. Who knows, maybe a fellow engineer has a friend in business. We shouldn't risk having them pass along Taichi's tactic."

Hayate nodded, agreeing with Koushiro completely. "Of course."

Kiku looked like she was going to argue again, but her eyes caught sight of something behind their table that made her forget about arguing. "Oh, look, _there's _Yamato and Wakana. Wakana! Yamato! Over here!" she stood up, calling their attention loudly. Several people from the tables around them all looked at Kiku, annoyed at her yelling, but she didn't take notice at all. When the tall blond boy and the black haired girl arrived at their table with their trays of food, Kiku grabbed Wakana around the wrist and pulled the girl to sit down with her. "What took you guys so long?"

"The line was long," Yamato answered coolly, sitting down in the only available seat between Wakana and Sora. He spread a piece of paper on the table in front of him before opening a carton of juice. "It's pretty insane."

Wakana nodded in affirmation. "Next time, we'll make sure to leave the music room as soon as the bell rings. We thought that the lines would be shorter if we waited a while." She made a face. "That didn't turn out well, obviously."

Hayate glanced at Yamato and nodded hello when he caught the other boy's glance before returning his attention back to his laptop. It was still loading. He sighed softly.

"What's wrong?" Koushiro asked Hayate, though his eyes didn't move from his computer screen.

"Koushiro, I really hope that you finish your program soon. I am in dire need of it," Hayate said jokingly.

"All in good time, my friend. I should be done with the program before three days have time to pass. But checking the bugs… now _that_ may take some time." Koushiro tapped his fingers restlessly against the table as he thought. "But there's no way around that. I'll need to take a long time if I wish to be thorough."

Hayate nodded understandingly. "Well, you have a better chance of finishing soon, more than anyone else in the class anyway." Hayate's praise was honest; he hadn't yet forgotten his awe and admiration that Koushiro had already patented several computer programs prior to their meeting at camp. It was a feat that made up a far more impressive resume than all of the other computer programming students combined.

Koushiro only smiled humbly. "I appreciate your confidence, Hayate. It means a lot to me."

Hayate's laptop finished loading then, and the two boys returned their concentration to their computer programs. After a moment, however, Hayate realized that he could not concentrate with all of the chatter going on around him. It seemed like the mess hall was only getting louder and louder as more people finished their food and became busy, socializing with one another. He looked up, a small frown on his face.

At their own table, Taichi and Kiku made up the largest portion of the noise – the soccer player was regaling his stories with exaggerated movements and sound effects to the girl's rapt attention. Yamato and Wakana's chairs were close together, their heads bent over a shared piece of paper (a music sheet, Hayate surmised). They too were talking loudly: it seemed as if Wakana was scolding Yamato over something that she was trying to teach him, and Yamato was scratching his head in irritated confusion. Sora was, Hayate noticed, nowhere to be found. Perhaps she, too, had found the cacophonous din of the mess hall too jarring.

"What do you say we head back to the cabin now?" Hayate asked Koushiro loudly over the noise. Surprisingly, the computer genius didn't look perturbed by the distractions at all. "Isn't it too loud to concentrate?"

Koushiro smiled a knowing grin that spoke of hidden secrets. "You'd be surprised by what I've had to ignore in order to work on my laptop in my years. But I see your point. Let's go."

* * *

"So, do you get it now?"

Yamato traced the lines of music in front of him. "Yeah, I think so. It comes kind of slow, but I can read it if I concentrate."

"Good." Wakana's answering smile was warm if a little bit tired. Yamato wasn't surprised; they'd been working for a long time. "Try reading these notes for me." She pointed out an eight note to his notice.

Yamato followed her finger, and ran over the notes mentally in his head. "That's a C… sharp."

"Yeah. And this one?"

"A, C sharp, and E. An A major chord."

Wakana nodded approvingly. "You're really starting to get the hang of this. You're a lot better at this than some people are when they start. I think it's probably because you already have some solid experience with music. Right?"

"It is still kind of hard," Yamato admitted. "I'm really not used to it. But I guess with some practice, I'll get better at it, huh?"

"That's the idea, yeah. Practice makes perfect and all that."

Yamato nodded and looked around the mess hall. He gave a start of surprise. "Huh. I didn't even notice that it had gotten so quiet. When did everyone else leave?"

Wakana looked startled as well as she looked around the empty dining hall. "I don't know. I didn't even notice that we were the only ones left at the table."

"We should go look for everyone else." Yamato pushed his chair back and stood up, grabbing the music and waiting for Wakana to stand as well. "Where do you think they'll be now?"

"Probably in one of the cabins," Wakana answered after a moment of contemplation. "I remember Kiku saying something to the effect that she and Taichi were going to be working with Koushiro and Hayate on something."

She blushed unexpectedly. Yamato studied her face quizzically, but decided against it asking her questions. Wakana, he knew, didn't like to be put on the spot. "And Sora?" he asked after a moment as they walked outside. The camp grounds were quiet; only a few people were outside. Probably because it was so hot and they wanted to escape the heat by staying in their air conditioned cabins….

Wakana frowned as she tried to remember. "You know, I have no idea. I don't remember her saying anything to us when she left about what her plans were for the afternoon."

"Oh." Yamato frowned as well, kicking a rock to the side as he walked. He had sat right next to Sora during lunch, since it was the only seat left at the table when he and Wakana had arrived. And though Yamato had said hello to her, Sora hadn't spoken a word to him. She only wordlessly nodded at him before turning to ask Koushiro something, like she was mad at something. It made him wonder, but he didn't press it, figuring that Sora needed her space.

"Do you want to head to my cabin? Maybe she'll be there," Wakana suggested when Yamato said nothing more.

"Okay." They walked the rest of the path in silence. When they reached the large camp clearing, Yamato saw that there were still groups of people outside. Instinctively, Yamato braced himself. He was not to be disappointed. He and Wakana had barely taken a few steps into the clearing when one of the girls recognized him and told her friends.

They'd burst into sudden giggles before running to stop in front of Yamato. "Ishida Yamato?" one of them asked breathlessly. "From the Teenage Werewolves?"

Yamato smiled. "Yeah, that's me."

A pair of girls squealed, and the others gasped. "Do – do you mind if we -?"

"I don't mind."

He'd ended up signing autographs for all of them, and Wakana sportingly handled one girl's camera so that he could take a group picture with them. "Thanks for your support, guys, I really appreciate it," Yamato told them.

"Oh, it's not a problem. Really," one of the girls said, flustered. Another girl looked like she was on the verge of tears at being so close to him. "Is it all right with you if we tell some of our friends that you're here at camp? They're _really_ big fans of yours…"

"No, of course not. It's the least I can do for you all." Yamato grinned at them. The girls all thanked him profusely one more time before letting him go with Wakana (who had gotten a few curious looks from the girls). They'd walked a short distance when Yamato realized that Wakana was shaking her head. "What?"

"Is it always like that? For you?" Wakana asked him.

Yamato shrugged. "It's worse in the city, when I'm headed somewhere and they catch up to me. Especially when one of the girls starts screaming. Then I usually have to wait and sign autographs for a while before they let me go."

"And you've never tried to run away from them? Or wear a disguise? How can you live in peace of people recognize you like that?" Wakana asked, curious.

"Well, it's not like I'm being recognized everywhere I go. I'm just an underground rock star, not at all that popular as some people would think," Yamato explained as they walked underneath the shade of some trees. "As for disguises and stuff… I won't lie and say that I haven't contemplated it before. But the only reason why my band is pretty successful in the business to begin with is because of fans like them. It's just… part of the deal, I guess." Yamato shoved his hands in his pockets. "I've gotten used to it." The words came out melancholy, and Wakana noticed.

"Does it annoy other people that you walk with?" she asked timidly, as if unsure as to what his reaction would be.

Yamato shrugged. "Yeah. Not all of my friends from school like walking with me anymore." _One in particular_, Yamato thought sadly. "I don't blame them. They didn't sign up for it."

Wakana nodded, her sympathy evident in her silence. After a distance, she pointed her thumb at a large cabin. "This is ours. I'll go check and see if Sora's in there really quick. Wait here?"

"Okay." Yamato watched Wakana head toward the cabin before he turned to face the clearing where other students clustered around the picnic tables, which was somewhat in the distance now. He shielded his vision against the sun with a raised hand while his eyes took in the rest of the campsite landscape. It wasn't much like the Tomodatchi campsite of his youth, but it was close enough to bring back good memories of the past. Looking up at the clouds now, he half expected to find sudden snow dropping, perhaps beautiful and strange lights dancing across sky. And when he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine Mimi complaining about the heat, Jyou fussing about the possibility of a heat stroke, and Takeru laughing as he found pill bugs in the grass.

_The good old days,_ Yamato thought when he opened his eyes again.

"Yamato?" Wakana had appeared behind him. "Taichi and Kiku are inside the cabin, and Sora too. Do you want to come in?"

"Yeah, sure." Yamato turned away from the view and stood up, following Wakana inside the girl's cabin. It looked almost exactly like the boy's cabin – they had the same furnishings, the same layout – it was only much tidier in appearance. Taichi sat next to Kiku on the floor, their back against the wall – Yamato wondered vaguely if his best friend's feelings toward the girl were as serious as they appeared to be – and Sora sat across them, her own back against one of the bunk beds. Wakana crossed the room and sat between Kiku and Sora as Yamato stood in the doorway.

"Hey, Yamato! What are you and Wakana doing that always makes you guys so late to meeting up with us?" Kiku teased in greeting when she saw Yamato enter the cabin and close the door behind him. "First at lunch, and now during our afternoon break. The two of you aren't playing hooky, are you?"

Yamato paused before sitting down on the ground a cautious distance away from Sora, raising an eyebrow at Kiku. Taichi also glanced at Kiku, a frustrated look on his face, he but didn't say anything. "No. We just got caught up in working on our music," Yamato finally answered at length.

"I'm teaching Yamato how to read," Wakana added quietly. Yamato felt that her words tone on the defensive side, and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had an ally in her. "He's getting pretty good at it."

Taichi laughed. Yamato knew that only he and Sora would be able to tell that it was a forced laugh, one to break the tension building in the cabin. "Well, yeah. It _is_ Yamato we're talking about, after all. The god of rock and roll." He winked in a show of nonchalance, and Yamato could only roll his eyes. Beside him, Yamato felt Sora shift uncomfortably.

"I thought that you and Kiku were going to be working with Koushiro and Hayate on your business project?" Yamato directed at Taichi, changing the subject.

Taichi scratched his head. "Oh. Yeah. Well, we did follow them after we finished lunch and managed to get some work done. But then, when Koushiro and Hayate started to get caught up on the computer programs and confused us to the point of no return, Kiku suggested that we leave the both of them alone."

"But still, we found some good information online," Kiku said, nodding seriously for once. "We're planning on heading to a few wholesale warehouses that are clearing out. Koushiro is going to, like, print out a whole list of places that he found on the internet that we're going to have to stop by."

"What exactly are you doing for business class?" Wakana asked after a moment, slightly confused.

Taichi looked at Wakana blankly for a moment before his expression cleared. "Oh, that's right, you and Yamato weren't there when Kiku and I were explaining what we have to do for business class this week." He launched into an enthusiastic description, and, in great detail, told them of the scavenger hunt that he and his Team Platinum were engaged in at the moment. Kiku chimed in occasionally to add other points when she felt that Taichi hadn't embellished their activities enough, but most of the time, Yamato thought that she just watched Taichi admiringly. He wondered vaguely if that was how his friends felt whenever they were stopped on the street by Yamato's fans.

"Speaking of classes, how did your music class go today?" Taichi said when he finished. "The two of you were so wrapped up in that music sheet that we didn't even get a chance to ask."

"Oh! That reminds me. I should go and practice my seating piece for my cello audition," Wakana said, clapping her hands together once as she remembered. She looked at Yamato. "Do you want to come and practice with me? The music room should be open now, and Manami could help you with your music too."

"Nah, it's cool. I haven't really gotten a chance to hang out with these guys today. You go on ahead without me. I'll see you at dinner," Yamato answered.

Wakana nodded as she picked up her large cello case and carefully navigated around them. "Okay, sounds good. Bye guys. Yamato'll fill you in on what we did today. I'll see the rest of you at dinner."

"Bye Wakana!" they chorused as the cellist left the room. When she was gone, Kiku shifted the force of her mischievous black eyes to Yamato. "You and Wakana look pretty friendly now. Are the two of you getting close?"

Sora crossed her arms, and Taichi coughed uncomfortably. "It's not like that, Kiku," Yamato said patiently. "We're just friends."

"Uh-huh. Sure. That's what they _all_ say," Kiku said sagely. Taichi elbowed her in the ribs.

"If the man says that they're just friends, then they're just friends," he said lightly. Taichi turned to Yamato. "So how was your day?"

"All right, I suppose." Yamato sighed. "There were the inevitable fans who wanted my autograph. Wakana handled it well enough, but I can pretty guarantee that by the end of camp, she'll be sick of walking with me anywhere. We couldn't go anywhere without someone stopping me to talk about the band."

"Business as usual, then," Sora stated lightly.

"Yeah." Yamato paused. "Class was all right though. Our instructor, Manami, seems pretty dedicated to music." He was about to tell them about his encounter with Kosuke but thought better of it when he remembered that Kiku was listening attentively and would no doubt gossip about it with people later. Instead, he said, "Wakana's been great too, for helping me with learning how to read music. We audition in a few days for our places in the orchestra, and I'm already way behind everyone else because I don't know the basics."

"You'll learn it in no time," Taichi dismissed, waving a hand. "You have the natural talent of music. Learning the skills will just make you even better. Like that one time with soccer – "

"Okay, Taichi, we get it," Kiku cut him off, quickly. Yamato hid a smile. It seemed that even Kiku could get her fill of Taichi's soccer version of war stories.

"Not another soccer anecdote, please!" Sora said, faking a grimace.

"Hey, don't you forget that _you_ once played the honorable sport of soccer too. That is, before you ditched it for tennis." Taichi made a face of his own. "It was the ultimate treason, and don't you think I've forgotten it, Takenouchi Sora!"

"You used to play soccer, Sora?" Kiku asked, her eyes wide. Taichi snorted.

"_Play_ soccer? Sora didn't play soccer. She practically breathed soccer, same as me. That's how we met, when we were wee little kids."

Sora laughed. "Stop exaggerating Taichi. I was nowhere near as obsessed with soccer as you were."

But that did not deter Taichi, and he began to tell Kiku all about how he met Sora as a little kid in the park. Her curiosity sparked, Kiku prompted Taichi to continue on how he met Yamato later on, and then how the three of them all became friends. They ended up sitting, joking around and just talking about random things, for some time. When the sky outside began to darken, Taichi stretched and stood up. "Hey, we should start heading back to the mess hall now. Don't want to miss out on the food."

"You're always hungry," Kiku accused him in a joking manner, poking Taichi's side with her index finger. "And yet, you're in such great shape. How is that even humanly possible?"

Yamato and Sora both groaned when Taichi struck a heroic pose. "Spare us," Yamato said quickly, before Taichi could even open his mouth.

"Please," Sora added, "or else _I'm _going to lose my appetite."

Taichi scowled, but straightened nonetheless. "You guys are such party poopers. I never have any fun when I hang out with the two of you. Kind of like when you guys used to –" Yamato threw Taichi a sharp look, and his best friend quickly improvised "– make fun of my hair all the time when we were little." He pretended to pout. "That completely scarred my self esteem."

"Your self-esteem is perfectly intact," Yamato shot back. "It could use some scarring."

"_I_ like your hair," Kiku said glibly, seeming to have totally missed Taichi's misstep of words and ignoring Yamato's insult. "It's big, just like you."

"Well, at least I can count on _someone _here to understand." Taichi sighed with long suffering, and Kiku giggled predictably. "Now, come on! No more stalling for time." Taichi opened the door them, and Yamato followed Kiku and Sora out of the cabin.

The sun was setting now, its last rays flaring over the campsite and casting it in an orange tinged glow. It wasn't too difficult to see the path though - a good thing, considering how easy it would be to trip over the roots of the trees in the dark. Yamato walked slowly, taking in as much of the view as he could and committing it to his memory. The orange was reflected off of his friends' backs as they walked ahead of him. Yamato noticed in particular how the orange glow set off Sora's auburn's hair, catching some of the loose strands and turning it flaming red in the breeze.

Yamato's hands slowly curled into fists as he reprimanded himself mentally. Why did his thoughts keep running away from him like that? Things between him and Sora were over now, long over, and it would stay that way because things just didn't work out. Yamato knew that, even without considering the proof of the precarious situation of their relationship; even without remembering how Sora always was hesitant to speak to him directly, and how she at times seemed angry at him and didn't speak to him at all. He knew all of that.

_But why doesn't it feel that way now? _Yamato thought when Sora glanced back at him and smiled shyly.

The light from the setting sun made her look like she was glowing.

Yamato lengthened his strides so that he could walk beside Sora. "It's nice, isn't it?" Yamato said, when they were walking side-by-side, and motioned at the setting sun.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, it is," she agreed. Yamato felt a slightly wistful tone in the undercurrent of her words, and it made propelled him to blurt out the words before he even thought about whether or not it would be wise to hold them back.

"It reminds me of… when we used to sit in the park and watch the sun go down together. Do you remember?"

Sora stopped walking, and Yamato stopped abruptly too. Sudden dread snaked its way into his mind, and he immediately regretted speaking in the first place. _Mistake, mistake, mistake_, his mind chanted. _Look at her! Why should you remind her about those days? What makes you think that you're not hurting her again, idiot?_

Sora seemed surprised by his words – he had expected that - but her eyes softened slightly, which took _him_ by surprise. She opened her mouth to speak –

"ISHIDA YAMATO!"

Suddenly, a group of unfamiliar girls appeared from out of nowhere around Yamato, claiming his attention. "Hey, guys, what I can do for you?" Yamato said distractedly over their babbling voices, his eyes still locked with Sora's. She looked uneasy, and hesitated in place. _Don't go_, Yamato tried to plead to her through his eyes, _please, just wait a minute for me._

"A friend of mine told me that she saw you here and got your autograph, but I didn't believe her – I was like, 'There is _no_ way that Ishida Yamato of the Teenage Werewolves could possibly be going to career camp!'" the leader of the girls gushed. "So who would've thought! This is such a pleasant surprise!"

"We _love _you!"

"Do you have a girlfriend, Yamato?"

"Do you want my number? _Can _I give you my number?"

"Is there any way that I can get a backstage pass to your show?" the leader elbowed her friends out of the way, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder and smiling brightly at Yamato. "I'm totally, like, your hugest fan. I've been to all your concerts and I know all the lyrics to all of your songs. I even have all of your band posters and CD's."

"That's great," Yamato said warmly, though internally he wished for the first time that they would all just disappear and leave him alone. Sora was starting edging away slowly, her gaze still in line with his, wary now. "Listen, guys, my friends are waiting for me to go eat dinner…."

"Why don't you sit with us at our table?" the leader asked. "There's enough room for _you_, if you wanted to eat with us."

"Yeah, we have plenty of room!"

"Please, Yamato? It would mean so much to us!"

"No, really, I need to get going." Yamato said, a hint of desperation leaking into his voice as he pleaded with the girls. When his gaze flickered back to Sora, she only shook her head, a crestfallen expression on her face, and turned away. She ran to catch up with Taichi and Kiku, and Yamato could only watch her go, pain and regret twisting in his stomach like a knife.

The girls thrust a pen into his loosely curled hand. "Just an autograph then," the leader said, holding out a piece of paper. "Please?"

Yamato glanced at Sora's retreating back and then back at the faces of the eager girls before him. His shoulders dropped. "…Sure, I guess an autograph wouldn't hurt."

The girls all grinned brightly, the leader moving in closer so that she was next to him as Yamato took the piece of paper and signed it for her. "Make it out to Umeko, please," she cooed, her hand brushing against his forearm.

"Sure thing," Yamato said, a small smile on his face but only self-disgust inside himself.

Since when did being a musician feel like such a curse?


	4. Unresolved Issues

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
**Author's Notes: **Thanks again to Trisha for the edits; a Koumi scene appears in this chapter (which will undoubtedly please a certain reader…); and like always, please read, enjoy, and review.

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter IV: Unresolved Issues_

* * *

Koushiro recognized the instant that Yamato entered the dining hall that something was troubling him.

There were the less obvious signs. Yamato's eyes were downcast, nearly always looking toward the ground and distant, as if deep in thought. Yamato was never much of a talkative person to begin with, but he remained silent throughout dinner despite sitting close by Taichi - who was, as always, loud and animated. His shoulders were hunched in toward himself and gave the impression that he was deeply troubled with something on his mind.

And then, of course, there was the most obvious sign of all. Sora was acting in much the same way, and both were steadfastly avoiding each other's gaze, unwilling to so much as turn to the other's direction.

Problematic, indeed, Koushiro thought to himself, worrying his bottom lip as he confirmed his conclusion.

Koushiro glanced Taichi's way. The soccer player knew both Yamato and Sora better than Koushiro did, and Taichi undoubtedly was able to ascertain that something was afoot as well. Perhaps because of this, Taichi was purposely drawing everyone's attention his way with an epic story of some feats he had accomplished on the soccer field. It was clearly a tactic to instill some normality into the situation, as well as a diversion to shield Yamato and Sora's tension from their new friends.

As far as Koushiro could tell, it was working. Kiku was as enraptured as ever by Taichi, and even Wakana and Hayate looked interested by his tale. Taichi was going all the way, his protective instinct coming in full strength. Once in a while, his eyes would flicker toward his best friends, and in those seconds, his brown eyes betrayed the extent of his worry. Koushiro suspected that the soccer player probably had a more intimate knowledge of what happened between their friends, and he resolved to investigate the matter further at a later time.

In any case, it was getting late. People were already starting to excuse themselves from their tables and drifting back to their cabins to get some well-needed sleep. Koushiro coughed obtrusively then, interrupting Taichi's story. "Everyone, I think it would be best if we all turned in now," Koushiro said carefully. "You know what they say; teenagers our age need at least eight hours of proper sleep if we want to be at our optimum performance tomorrow."

Taichi caught on and was quick to agree. "Good idea, Koushiro! Let's get going guys," he said, standing up. The others began to follow suit. "Night, girls. We'll see you tomorrow morning."

While the others said their good byes as well, Koushiro weaved around the table to get to Sora's side. The girl looked worn out, and her eyes were distant, still lost in her thoughts. "Are you all right, Sora? You don't look so well," Koushiro said, concerned, as he touched her elbow to get her attention.

"What?" She gave a start. Sora's eyes focused on Koushiro, and she gave him a half-hearted smile. "Oh, don't worry about me Koushiro. I'm just sleepy, that's all. I'll be fine after I get some rest."

Koushiro nodded, though he was sure that it was much more complicated than that. "Well, then, I hope you sleep comfortably. Feel better tomorrow."

"You too, Koushiro," she said faintly when Kiku appeared by her side.

"Let's go, Sora, you look dead on your feat," Kiku tsked, though not unkindly. She nodded at Koushiro. "Night Koushiro, we'll see you tomorrow."

Koushiro watched, still unsatisfied, as Kiku then steered Sora toward Wakana and the three girls left together. His worries were still irking him, though, and that bothered him – but with a sigh, Koushiro resigned to himself that now was not the time for his detective work. That would have to wait. He walked over to where his roommates were waiting. "Are we ready to leave?" Koushiro asked.

"Yep." Hayate replied with a nod. "Let's go."

The walk back to the boys' cabins seemed to take longer than usual. Taichi was still talking steadily, and Hayate and Koushiro good-naturedly, occasionally, offered their opinions as well. But it was difficult to ignore Yamato dragging on behind them, his self-imposed silence a dark and looming presence. Hayate, miraculously for someone who was usually rather astute, remained oblivious. This was good, of course. Even if he was too conflicted at the moment to notice, Koushiro knew that Yamato would doubtlessly prefer that their roommate remained in the dark about the dramatics between him and Sora.

Koushiro heaved an inward sigh at the thought. Once, not so very long ago, he had believed that Yamato and Sora's relationship was the best you could find for teenagers their age. They weren't like all those other high school romances that were doomed for failure from the start. There was a part of Koushiro - foolishly, now, as he knew better - that had assumed that Yamato and Sora would be together forever. It was inconceivable that two such well-suited people could ever break away from each other. Neither one of them were superficial or overdramatic, clingy or demanding.

And then, all so suddenly, it simply ended, surprising everyone. Well, not surprising. _Shocking_ was a far more apt term to describe the collective Chosen Children's reactions.

No one except Yamato and Sora had any real, substantial knowledge of how the relationship had disintegrated. And, with Yamato's taciturn behavior and Sora's uncharacteristically laconic replies to all the inevitably probing questions, it was likely to stay that way for a long while.

Koushiro hadn't been happy to simply let the matter go without getting any of his questions answered. It went against his very nature to leave a puzzle unsolved. Out of respect for his friendship to both Yamato and Sora, though, he managed to at least keep his questions to himself... for a while, at the least. But when it became apparent that whatever resolution that the two had come to, it wasn't making either one of them was happy, Koushiro had naturally decided that it was time to get to the bottom of the story. Thus far, he was highly unsuccessful in his venture. But Koushiro was not the type to give up so easily. The mystery of Yamato and Sora's dissolution was testing him, and it was only a matter of time before Koushiro would find the answers he was looking for.

"All right, we're here," Taichi announced when they finally arrived. He stepped up and opened the cabin door, leaving it open for everyone else to pass through. Koushiro followed Hayate in, and crossed over to the thermostat to set the temperature (he'd managed to fix it during the break hours before dinner, but it was still temperamental and Koushiro was unwilling to let anyone else use it and take the risk of it becoming damaged again). As soon as he was done, Koushiro quickly got ready for bed like his friends.

Later, Koushiro sat propped up in his bed against the wall and checked his email to see if he'd gotten anything new since dinner. The one that caught his attention first was a short email from Tentomon, asking Koushiro about his thoughts on summer camp so far. Koushiro replied to that email quickly, filling his partner in on the latest developments with his computer programs and his budding friendship with Hayate - something Koushiro was sure that Tentomon would be happy, since Tentomon was well-aware of Koushiro's desire for a friend who shared his interest in computers.

There was not much else to check on his email beside Tentomon's letter. There were a few updates on the various blogs that he had been subscribed to, but he would read up on those articles in the morning. Just as Koushiro was about to sign off and to get some sleep his roommates (he could tell from Taichi and Hayate's snores that at least two of his roommates were already asleep), a new instant message flashed up on his screen. Koushiro couldn't help but smile, his tiredness forgotten, when he saw who it was from.

**pinkprincess: **hey koushiro! what are you doing up so late?

Quickly, Koushiro typed back.

**computergenius: **Actually, I was about to head off when you caught me.  
**computergenius: **Taichi, Yamato, and I came back from camp dinner just a while ago.  
**computergenius: **They're all asleep now.

Koushiro waited patiently as the "_pinkprincess is typing..._" message appeared on the bottom of the window. He knew that Mimi was not a particularly fast typer, what with her tendency to chicken-peck her words and all.

**pinkprincess: **ohhh. i see.  
**pinkprincess: **how is camp? are you having fun? :]  
**computergenius: **It's quite enjoyable.  
**computergenius: **The computer classes are excellent.  
**pinkprincess: **that's good to hear, lol.  
**pinkprincess: **enjoy your fill of them, okay?  
**computergenius: **No worries, Mimi, I will.

They spent a few minutes in which they exchanged just the usual, mundane details about each other, to catch up. Mimi surprised Koushiro by telling him that she'd come and visit them all sometime later in the month, since her father wanted to come back and visit his family still in Japan for a couple of weeks. They'd tossed back and forth various activities that they could plan to do together with the others before they fell to a lull in the conversation. Then, Mimi began typing something again.

**pinkprincess: **so... how are sora and yamato doing?  
**pinkprincess: **and taichi?

Koushiro chuckled. He knew that Mimi's interest was clearly devoted to developments between Sora and Yamato, and that she'd tacked on Taichi name only as an afterthought to disguise her curiosity. But Koushiro knew Mimi well enough to see through her attempt at casual pleasantries. Deep down, her curiosity burned just as fiercely as his did. Then he shook his head and sighed. It wasn't as if he had anything promising to tell her.

**computergenius: **No luck on that front. It looked like things were going well for a while when we got to camp...  
**computergenius: **but then something happened before dinner.

He paused and bit his lip before adding another line.

**computergenius: **It really is a pity. Before then, it seemed almost like things were going to be going back to normal.

Mimi's reply was swift.

**pinkprincess: **awwww  
**pinkprincess: **:[  
**pinkprincess: **you don't know what happened?

Koushiro shook his head, even though Mimi couldn't see him.

**computergenius: **I really have no idea what could have taken place.  
**computergenius: **I think that Taichi has some idea of what happened, though.  
**computergenius: **But I haven't had a chance to ask him yet.

On the other bunk against the opposite wall, Yamato shifted uncomfortably in his top bunk and made Koushiro aware of his camp surroundings once again. He gave a start when he saw how long he'd stayed up to chat. Sometimes, it was all too easy to get absorbed into a conversation with Mimi. He stifled a yawn and then added another line.

**computergenius: **It's getting late for me now, so I'm going to sign off, all right?  
**computergenius: **I'll talk to you later, Mimi.  
**pinkprincess: **ohh okay  
**pinkprincess: **keep me posted, koushiro?  
**pinkprincess: **:]  
**computergenius: **Of course I will.  
**computergenius: **:-)  
**pinkprincess: **thanks koushiro, you're the best  
**pinkprincess: **:3  
**pinkprincess: **good night!  
**computergenius: **Good night, Mimi.

Koushiro signed off of the internet and turned the laptop off, placing it carefully on the floor next to his bunk. He settled down in his sleeping bag and tried to calm his ever ticking mind so that he could sleep in peace. But, like most nights, sleep eluded him. Koushiro knew why. His thoughts, whenever he tried to turn them toward _sleep _and _rest_, continually returned to Yamato and Sora's predicament. He frowned. He didn't want to pry more than was absolutely necessary; he prided himself on refraining from being a meddler.

And yet...

He couldn't help it. Koushiro wanted to help Yamato and Sora, wanted to do what he could to bring them back to normal. He missed the way they used to be, even though he knew that it wasn't he place to miss it in the first place. It wasn't his place to get involved, or to do more than just watch from the sidelines.

Resolutely, Koushiro squared his shoulders. _One time to get the answers you want_, he told himself sternly. _You get only one chance to give into your selfishly inquisitive side, and that's _it_. No more._

He tried to ignore the part of himself that secretly rejoiced at his decision. If he had to be a spectator to this whole mess, then, darn it all, he wanted to at least be an _informed_ spectator.  
_  
_Quietly, so as not to wake the others, Koushiro whispered into the dark. "Yamato? Are you still awake?"

There was a moment of absolutely stillness, and then Koushiro heard an audible sigh. "Yeah. Can't sleep either?" Yamato's voice floated down the bunk to Koushiro's ears.

Koushiro gave a sigh of his own. "You could say that I'm having a hard time shutting my brain off tonight."

"Same here."

The silence fell again for a long time, though Koushiro knew that Yamato was still awake. For his part, at least, Koushiro was struggling to come up with a way to ask Yamato his question without sounding presumptuous.

"Koushiro? Can I... ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?"

Yamato was silent again, and Koushiro imagined that Yamato was probably listening to Taichi and Hayate's snores to make sure that they were still asleep. When Yamato spoke again, his voice was even lower than before. "With my being a musician... does it ever bother you when we get stopped by people on the street who want my autograph?"

Koushiro, having expected something related to Sora in some way, was completely taken by surprise. He blinked, unsure of why the topic was suddenly on Yamato's mind, but gave it some serious thought since it seemed so important to him. "Honestly?" Koushiro said slowly. "No, not really. To be fair, we don't usually walk to very many places together outside of school. But when we do go places, it's never bothered me. It's just a part of the package, I suppose, when one is a friend of a popular 'rock star'." Koushiro let Yamato digest the answer for a few seconds before asking curiously, "May I ask what brought this on, Yamato?"

There was a slight, soft thumping sound that Koushiro deducted was probably Yamato shifting his pillow on the bunk in dissatisfaction. "It's just... something I had on my mind today." Yamato paused. "I never really noticed how often other people just _intrude _on my time with my friends sometimes. And it made me wonder if maybe it was irritating for you guys too, all along."

"Ah." Koushiro thought Yamato's response over carefully before saying slowly, "Well, I obviously cannot speak for everyone else, but I have never felt annoyed or bothered by your fans. Like I said earlier, it really can't be helped, since it comes with as an effect of you being so good at your music."

Yamato gave another sigh. Whether it was of disappointment or contentment, Koushiro couldn't tell. "Thanks."

"Think nothing of it." Koushiro rolled over again to look at Yamato's bunk. Even in the dark, the light color of his friend's hair stood out. "Now, can I ask you a question? I'll understand if you don't want to answer, but it has piqued my curiosity."

"What has?" Yamato asked, his voice a cross between patiently amused and cautiously wary.

For a moment, Koushiro battled internally with himself over which question was more pressing for him to have answered. At the moment, the war was over the reason behind Yamato and Sora's break-up, the battle over the reason why they had been so cold to each other at dinner. Koushiro chewed his bottom lip as he contemplated. Which question to ask? In the end, Koushiro chose to ask the lesser question of the two, since it was more likely that Yamato would answer it than the other.

"Something happened before dinner that got both you and Sora upset about something," Koushiro said as he trailed off, watching carefully for Yamato's reaction. As far as he could tell, though, the blond only seemed to freeze with tension at the mention of Sora's name, his shape in the dark unmoving.

Yamato's eventual response was spoken lowly. "And your question?"

Koushiro frowned slightly. Whatever it was, Yamato was clearly reluctant to speak about it if he was dragging out the obvious in an attempt to delay his answer. Koushiro already half-expected the answer that Yamato would give when he phrased his curiosity with a succinct "What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Yamato said, his voice strained - rather predictably, Koushiro thought. That usually was how he responded to topics that pertained to Sora. "I'm sorry."

"That's fine," Koushiro assured his friend, disguising his disappointment. "I thought it couldn't hurt to ask."

Yamato chuckled half-heartedly. "I know that tone of yours. When you try and pretend that it doesn't bother you when you don't know something."

Though Yamato could not see him in the dark, Koushiro grinned sheepishly. "That obvious, huh?"

"Painfully." The blond turned quiet, introspective. "I... did something that hurt Sora. I hadn't meant to, but by the time I tried to fix it, it was already too late."

"Oh." Koushiro waited for Yamato to elaborate, but after a while, it was more than clear that Yamato was unwilling to say more than that. It seemed that Koushiro would simply have to accept the answer for what it was worth. Still, though, he couldn't sleep. Not when he'd just made Yamato so clearly uncomfortable. "I'm here if you want to talk, Yamato," Koushiro said quietly. "Whatever it is. If there's anything I can do, even just listen, I will."

"Thanks man." Yamato voice became muffled as he pressed his face into his pillow. "I know that this - situation - has been hard to put up with."

"No need to apologize. I understand."

"What I don't understand," Taichi's groggy voice interrupted, "is why the two of you are still _awake_ and _talking_ when some of us are trying to get their beauty sleep."

As always, Taichi effectively diffused the seriousness and tension in the room. Yamato snickered quietly, and Koushiro was forced to press his own face into his pillow to muffle his startled laugh. "Sorry. We're going to sleep now, promise," Koushiro managed to say when he caught his breath again.

"You'd better," Taichi grumbled sleepily. "Good _night_."

"Night."

* * *

Sora sat on the edge of her seat, her legs crossed and her fingers pressed tightly together as she waited. She was the last one waiting in the room, all the other students having gone before her in alphabetical order according to their surnames. She uttered a soft sigh of impatience, glancing at the clock on the wall. An hour had already passed since the end of breakfast - another hour of a class for her to 'explore' gone to waste. Maybe it would have been better if she'd simply chosen a class before coming here, just to try it out for the duration of camp.

The door opened and a boy emerged from the office, a small piece of paper clutched in his hand. He gave her no notice as he quickly left the room to go to his new class. After he closed the door behind him, Sora tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and took a deep breath before getting up. She knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Sora stepped into the doorway of Counselor Ran's office. "Hi, Counselor Ran."

"Hello there. Come in and take a seat." Ran waved a hand at the chair in front of her makeshift desk and pushed a stack of the papers on her desk to the side. Sora closed the door behind her. "Takenouchi Sora, am I right? This will be just a routine check-up, it won't take very long at all. How was your class yesterday?"

Sora slid into the designated student's chair and forced a smile. "It was fun, I suppose. But I really don't think that creative writing is for me."

Ran nodded in a matter-of-fact manner. "I understand why it might not hold much appeal for you. Writing fiction is, of course, a lot of fun, but unless you feel passionate about it, it's pretty daunting to have it as an actual career." She pulled out a sheet of paper and scanned the list on it. "Well, do you have any idea yet which class you'd be interested in checking out for today?"

Sora shook her head. "Not really," she admitted, embarrassed. "I haven't really given it much thought."

"Take your time, there's no rush," Ran said encouragingly. "In any case, you still need a class to check out for the day." She scanned down the list before asking, "What do you think about theatre and drama production? You might enjoy that."

"I guess I could give it a try," Sora replied doubtfully. Secretly, Sora wasn't sure that theatre was for her in the long run. But, she reasoned, it was better to try out all of her options, just in case.

"Sounds good," Ran said cheerfully, oblivious to Sora's hesitation. She took out a scrap piece of paper and scribbled on it with her pen. "Here are the directions to get to the drama cabin. Let me know how it turns out tomorrow, okay?"

Sora nodded and stood up, taking the slip of paper into her palm. "I will. Thanks for the help, Ran," she said as she back up to the door and opened it. "See you later."

As soon as she got outside, she stopped to take a grateful breath of fresh air. She scanned the directions on the paper briefly before folding it and placing it in the back pocket of her shorts and starting down the worn pathway, following the trails of sneakers and sandals already left by the students who had gone this way earlier. A few minutes later, she spied the theatre cabin and, with a small knock on the door, slipped inside.

It was mostly dark, the only few lights turned on to face the makeshift stage on the far end of the room. Three girls were currently on the stage, acting out a scene of some sort. Sora hovered uncertainly by the door until a short female appeared by her side. "Exploratory course?" the woman asked, who Sora presumed to be the teacher.

Sora made a quick bow. "Yes, ma'am. I'm Takenouchi Sora. Counselor Ran sent me here today."

"Ah, I see. Well, take a seat back here and feel free to watch the others practice. After class has concluded, we can talk about you joining the class if you are still interested," the theatre teacher said with a small pat on Sora's elbow. Sora nodded in understanding and quietly took the nearest seat to the door that was available.

The performances were mostly serious, introspective dialogues between various characters, and it wasn't long before Sora's mind drifted. Her thoughts were not so much on the prospect of her latest class, however, but rather on a particular blond friend of hers...

Or whatever it was he to her, these days. She rubbed her temples as she sighed softly. What a mess.

Things had started out all right. When he came to the girls' cabin with Wakana, Sora had felt uncomfortable initially. But when dinner time came around and they left to hike back to the dining hall, things had felt right somehow between them, in a way that Sora hadn't felt in a long time. Maybe he had changed. When he began to allude so fondly to their former days together, her hopes had unknowingly been raised. She nearly confessed to him then that she had feelings for him - that they had never faded to begin with. After they broke up, Sora had sworn to herself that she would not voice the fact that she still had feelings for him because it was clear that things between them could not be worked out. End of story. But when she looked into his eyes last night, her silent vow had nearly been forgotten. And then, of course, reality came back to remind her of its ever looming presence.

_"That's great!"_ Sora remembered Yamato saying enthusiastically to his fans when they'd literally appeared out of nowhere. His blue eyes had widened with genuine interest, his lips curved into a warm smile as he looked at the girls who had surrounded him. Sora had been pushed aside, and she automatically lingered for a few moments to wait for him. But it was easy to see where his true priorities laid: his "protests" to his fans that his friends were waiting for him were half-hearted and false. The girls had seen through it, and Sora had seen through it easily as well. It hurt her to think about it, but Sora realized that Yamato had probably only protested in the first place because he was expected to, what with her waiting for him.

So she left. In retrospect, she _did _overreact - just a tad - to Yamato's fans' presence. She could admit to that much, at least, now that she had had some time to think about what happened. A mature, thoughtful person probably would have handled the situation in a cooler manner that she had - and as Yamato's _ex_-girlfriend, who _should_ be over him, she _should_ have acted more indifferently about the whole thing. But, to Sora's frustration, whenever she was around Yamato, all of her rational thinking just seemed to fly out the window. All she was left with was her impulses, her instincts - and most of the time, they usually caused her to act in ways that inevitably led to her feeling no small degree of embarrassment later on when she could reflect back.

"Idiot," she muttered to herself under her breath. She slumped in her seat slightly lower and rubbed her eyes.

It hadn't mattered so much when they were together, but when they'd broke up, things were different and turned upside down. The only way that she knew how to cope with it all was by avoiding him. The onslaught of chaotic emotions that rose within her whenever she saw him simply were too much for her to handle on a daily basis, and, like a coward, she had opted to run away from him instead of trying to instill some sort of normalcy into their relationship as "just friends". Because away from Yamato, it was much easier for her to believe that she was strong enough to live her life the way she had before he had been apart of it.

It wasn't as if she couldn't live without Yamato - far from it. If there had to be some skill that the Digital World had helped her learn all those years ago, it would have to be her sense of resilience, her ability to survive independently from other people. Sora was determined to avoid the moping, self-pity period of weeping that other girls her age went through after the end of a relationship, and coped with the change in the way she found easiest to handle. She threw herself into her schoolwork, tennis, her mother's flower shop, and pushed herself to excel in every area that she could.

On the stage, a performance winded up and Sora straightened up in her seat and clapped politely like everyone else. When the next group trooped up onstage, she tuned them out again.

Her efforts to immerse herself in her activities had paid off in the past year. She'd taken the girls' tennis team at Odaiba to the regional finals, where they'd finished in third place - a high achievement for them in comparison to previous years. And her grades took a definitive turn for the better. Her parents had been extremely proud of her, and Sora would be lying if she didn't acknowledge that she was proud of herself too.

But - reluctantly and against her better judgment - Sora could also admit to herself that her accomplishments, though prestigious and wonderful, nonetheless felt incomplete to her. That was what clued her in to her still enduring feelings for him. She'd busied herself and did all she could short of changing schools to avoid running into Yamato; and yet, despite her best efforts, she realized that she still mourned the loss of his company. For most of their time together, Yamato had been her confidant and best friend. Even in the last months, when their meetings were strained and infrequent and caused her more pain than gave her joy, at least he had still remained a presence in her life.

_There's a reason why he wasn't a presence afterward, though, _she reminded herself mentally. Sora's hands twisted the fabric of her shirt, her head bowed. _You broke up with him. It was your choice to cut him out of your life._

It was a melancholy thought, but then Sora rolled her eyes when she realized the ridiculousness of it all. It was an endless cycle: it hurt too much to be near him, and yet she missed him when he wasn't there. No matter where her decisions were, no matter how resolved she was about the course of action she should take, it all ended up being twisted between what her mind reasoned she needed and what her heart told her she wanted.

And it didn't help, either, that the rest of their friends were constantly trying to undermine her attempts to stay away from Yamato. She was no fool; Sora knew that the other Chosen Children were rooting - rather uselessly - for her to get back together with Yamato. They had kindly allowed her some time apart from him to adjust to their break-up and left them to their own devices. But as the months dragged on and contact between the two of them seemed to cease completely, however, the other Chosen Children felt compelled to step in and nudge them in the 'right direction' (as Mimi had bluntly put it during one of their late night chats).

Sora had resisted, and as far as she knew, Yamato had too to the meddling, well-meaning as it may have been. In the end, Taichi resolved the matter by finally putting his foot down and firmly insisting that they put aside their differences because of their duties to the Digital World. Taichi knew that she and Yamato were both too responsible to shirk on their duties, and used it to his advantage, calling upon his authority as the unofficial leader of the Chosen Children when he ordered them to cooperate.

He meant well, and though Sora still frowned now at the memory of Taichi's rare moment of sternness, she could grudgingly recognize that it was an action that Taichi had done with their best interests in mind. And to an extent, it worked. The forced contact helped ease Sora's feelings of being uncomfortable in Yamato's presence, since they were surrounded by their other friends. She didn't feel compelled to talk to him seriously in that type of setting, and it had allowed them to tentatively begin speaking again at least.

Of course, that was all moot now that he had shown his true colors. In his list of priorities, Sora was still very much at the bottom. It hurt more than she was willing to admit, even though she logically had no claim to a higher place in his life any longer.

The lights flickered on, and Sora blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden change in brightness in the theatre room. Distantly, the lunch bell rang and Sora gave a start. Was it already time to go? Her musings had taken up more time than she had thought.

As if on cue, the theatre teacher began to approach Sora with a smile. "Weren't the performances today outstanding?" she said enthusiastically, looking out fondly at the other students as they bid her goodbye on their way out of the room. "I'm really pleased with all of the students in this class, they show such promise. I hope that you'll become one of our numbers tomorrow as well!"

Sora coughed, embarrassed in the face of the theatre teacher's clear expectation. Awkwardly, Sora tried to politely explain, "I had a lot of fun today watching the others perform - but I'm really sorry to say that I don't think that theatre is for me."

There was time enough for a short pause of surprise on the theatre teacher's part before she recovered and smiled warmly. She patted Sora on the elbow. "Ah, well. Theatre isn't for everyone, though I'm sorry that you feel this way. Good luck on your future courses."

"Thank you, ma'am, for letting me sit in on your class," Sora said quickly and bowed, just relieved that the teacher's reaction wasn't nearly as bad as she had predicted. "I'll be going to lunch now."

The teacher readily agreed, and Sora excused herself from the cabin. She shaded her eyes from the bright sun overhead once she was outside and walked briskly up the path back to the dining hall. Unfortunately, since the theatre cabin was one of the further classes from the dining hall, by the time Sora reached it, the long line for food had already wound its way out the door and onto the pathway itself. She stifled an irritated groan and dutifully got to the end of the line, all the while debating whether or not she should just go inside and wait with Koushiro and Hayate for the line to get shorter. She wasn't really that hungry to begin with.

"Sora!"

She turned her head reflexively toward the sound of the voice calling her name and couldn't help but smile when she saw Wakana waving energetically. As Wakana came closer, she saw that Yamato was following Wakana at a further distance and swallowed nervously. Did she have to see him already? Maybe it would have been better if she did go inside while she had the chance. Then again, why did she always have to be the one who had to leave when Yamato was around? Her thoughts continued to spiral in incoherent directions, and she quickly tried to focus on remaining cool and calm at Yamato's arrival. She didn't want to allow him to see how easily he unnerved her with his very presence.

Thankfully, since Wakana had rushed ahead first, Sora was given some extra time to prepare for his arrival. Her cellist roommate looked happy to see her, and Sora pushed aside her thoughts of Yamato. "Hi Wakana. Why are you so late today?" Sora inquired pleasantly.

Wakana looked rueful. "The music room was kind of loud, so we didn't even hear the bell ring," she explained, "and it didn't help that Yamato was taking forever to pack up his things."

"I was not," Yamato said as he came closer, shifting the strap of his bass case on his shoulder to a more comfortable position. "Hey, Sora."

Sora nodded but before she could answer, Wakana engaged her in conversation again. "So how was your class today? Which subject did you sit in on?"

"Counselor Ran sent me to theatre today." Sora tried to ignore the silent weight of Yamato's gaze on her and shrugged as nonchalantly as she could manage. "It was all right, but theatre just isn't for me."

"Oh. That's too bad," Wakana said sympathetically. "So where are you going to go tomorrow?"

Sora rubbed the back of her neck and shifted her weight. "I haven't given it a lot of thought yet," she said slowly. "I know that something as important as my future college major shouldn't be held off on, and that I should probably come up with some kind of plan of attack. Like Koushiro told me to do." Sora smiled briefly at that. "But it's just so overwhelming - there are so many possibilities, it makes me nervous just to think about it."

"Why don't you come with us to music tomorrow?"

Sora blinked at Wakana's abrupt suggestion. Even Yamato seemed taken aback by it. "What?" he asked Wakana in a sharp tone that didn't escape Sora's notice.

"Well, if you don't have ideas for which class to go to, why go to a boring one that Counselor Ran assigns to you at random?" Wakana explained, seeing the shocked look that must have been evident on Sora's face. "You might as well come to music with us."

"I'm fairly sure that going to music will be a pointless idea," Sora said, frowning. "I already know that music is a class that I would never actually seriously consider for a college major. Why go and waste my time?"

Wakana looked playfully injured at Sora's response, but her expression brightened as she tried a new tactic to convince Sora. "We're having auditions for seats tomorrow, and everyone is practicing like crazy to make sure that they sound good. You'll hear some amazing music. And I'm sure that Yamato would appreciate having you there to support us too. Right, Yamato?" Wakana added, shooting a significant look Yamato's way and elbowing him jokingly in the ribs.

Yamato didn't respond and looked down instead at Sora. His expression revealing nothing as his eyes flickered over her face, as if trying to measuring her thoughts. "You don't have to come if you don't want to," Yamato said eventually. When Wakana gave a small groan of indignation, a small smile appeared on his lips as he looked back at Wakana and he added, "But of course we would like it if you were there."

Sora was taken off guard for a moment by the unexpected camaraderie between Yamato and Wakana, and for a short second experienced a strange mixture of apprehension and something else... but she couldn't linger on it, as Wakana had swiveled around to look for Sora's reply, and simply sighed instead. "Well, I guess I could -"

"Yes!" Wakana clapped her hands together. "It'll be fun, Sora, you'll see," she promised.

She continued to speak enthusiastically about the prospect of the next day, and Sora hummed and nodded at all the right places. Her mind was elsewhere, though. She couldn't help but notice that Wakana wasn't as shy as she had been when she first introduced herself to Sora just a few days ago. The change wasn't extremely noticeable, but it was a distinct change nonetheless.

Sora wondered distantly if it was maybe because of Yamato that this change had occurred. Something about the way Yamato acted made her believe that this was probably the case. He talked to Wakana often enough, his eyes sparked with that special earnest whenever the conversation turned to music, which Sora saw was mirrored in Wakana's eyes.

Watching them made her want to look away, so she did. It bothered her more than she was willing to admit - that an acquaintance of only a few days could capture Yamato's interest and hold it in a way that she herself was unable to.

When they finally were able to get their trays of food and make their way to the group's table, Sora felt a small amount of relief as she sat down at her seat between Taichi and Koushiro. The computer genius was currently engrossed in a technical conversation with Hayate - did they never run out of things to talk about? Sora wondered - so she turned instead to Taichi and Kiku to occupy her attention. "Hey, how did your scavenging go today?" she asked them.

Taichi groaned immediately. "Don't ask," he said, looking pitifully miserable.

Sora glanced at Kiku for clarification. For once, her bubbly roommate looked serious, even crestfallen. "It was bad," Kiku said, looking down at her tray of food.

"What happened?" Sora said sympathetically. "You guys were so confident yesterday."

Kiku and Taichi exchanged a glance with each other before Taichi turned to Sora. "It was probably because we did so over-confident about our plan yesterday that we did badly today," he said self-deprecatingly. "We got cocky... well, Kohei, Kiku, and I did. Suzu tried to keep us on track, but we were so sure that we would do well no matter what."

"We ended up running out of time," Kiku took up the thread of the conversation seriously and in a subdued tone, "and we got a few more items that were on the list. We probably missed, like, about a dozen less than what we needed to fill our quota for the day." Both Kiku and Taichi winced at this. "Hiroyuki really gave us a scolding when we reported to him how we did."

Sora squeezed Taichi's forearm comfortingly. "It's all right," she encouraged them both in an attempt to raise their spirits. "You'll have another chance tomorrow to make up for your mistake. Don't give up."

Kiku sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." They were quiet for a moment before Kiku changed the topic. "What was your class today, Sora?"

"Theatre," Sora replied, shrugging. "I'm not going back there tomorrow."

"Oh. That's too bad. You didn't like it?"

Sora shook her head vigorously. "I respect people who do like acting, but it just isn't something I can see myself doing."

"So where are you going to tomorrow?" Taichi asked.

Self-consciously, she grabbed her juice bottle and fiddled with the lid. "Music, actually."

"How cool! So you'll be going to class with Wakana and Yamato!" Kiku exclaimed, not noticing Taichi gaping wordlessly at Sora. "Did they convince you to give music a try?"

Sora took a sip from her juice before she answered. "Wakana more or less coerced me into going," she admitted. "But I'm not really going to try music seriously. She told me that tomorrow are their auditions, and lured me into coming to hear free music."

"Didn't know you were the stingy type, Sora," Taichi remarked, his eyes intent on her face and obviously trying to figure out what was her real motive for going to music class. "Is free music really strong enough to get you to go?"

"I'll be going to support Wakana and Yamato in their auditions too, of course," Sora defended herself, immediately disliking Taichi's suspicious tone. "What's it to you?"

Taichi frowned at her. "I'm just curious. You've never been one to really appreciate music," he said bluntly. He sounded almost accusing.

Sora couldn't help but glance at the other side of the table. Yamato had grown still, probably having picked up a few words from their conversation. Sora rolled her eyes and grit her teeth. "Does it really matter, Taichi? If I want to go, then I'll go." She drained the rest of her bottle and pushed her food back onto her tray. "Look, I'm going to go for a walk, all right? Don't wait for me."

"Well, we'll probably in the guys' cabin if you want to join us," Kiku said, her expression slightly bewildered by Sora and Taichi's cool tone. "But do you want me to go with you, Sora?"

"No, I'll be fine." Sora forced a brief smile. "See you guys later." She gathered her tray and took it with her to the nearest trash can to dispose of her food. Then, she quickly weaved her way through the tables to escape outside.


	5. Second Chance

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
**Author's Notes: **Finals is coming, so I figured I would upload this new chapter now so that it won't distract me when I should be studying. Enjoy and review!

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter V: Second Chance_

* * *

A knock on the door interrupted Manami as she was busy organizing her things at the last minute. She looked up with a quick glance at the clock. _Nearly time for auditions, now_, Manami realized. "Come in!" she called out, her hands automatically moving again to finish alphabetizing her students' files.

The door cracked open, and Wakana slipped inside. Another girl followed uncertainly behind Wakana. "Hello, Manami. You're not busy, are you?" Wakana asked, both girls making a polite bow in greeting.

"Just a little bit. But what can I do for you?" Manami gave the unnamed girl a sidelong glance, and Wakana noticed.

Wakana gestured to the auburn-haired girl at her side. "This is my friend, Takenouchi Sora. She's in the exploratory course, and Counselor Ran sent her here to try music out today."

The girl named Sora smiled slightly and bowed again in respect. "I hope that you won't mind me sitting in today."

"Nice to meet you, Sora," Manami said, smiling back warmly at the girl. "Don't worry, I don't mind at all. But I'm afraid that there's not much you can do to participate in class today. I'm sure that Wakana has already told you, but it just happens that you've come to our class on a day that we're auditioning for parts."

"Oh, um, I know. I don't mind watching the auditions," Sora supplied quickly, her cheeks coloring pink. "I don't actually play any musical instruments myself, but Counselor Ran has told me to try everything out, just to be sure."

"I see. Well, if you are interested in the class, don't feel discouraged by your lack of experience. It's never too late to learn how to play." Manami smiled before turning her gaze to Wakana and said seriously, "I'll charge you to keep your friend company while the auditions are taking place, all right Wakana?"

"Yes ma'am." Wakana's answering smile was cheeky at the same time it was respectful. Manami's own smile grew.

"Well then girls, you'll have to excuse me for now. I'm in the middle of preparations for the auditions, and it would be a good idea for me to finish within the next - oh, five minutes or so."

Both girls nodded and retreated back outside to the main room, and Manami returned her attention to the files on her lap. Slowly, she massaged her temple and sighed. The stack of manila files before her each held the musical resumes of the students in her music class that they'd had to fill out when they arrived to class that first day. Since handing out the audition music, Manami had spent a bit of her time reading each file carefully to get a better idea of what kind of musicians her students were.

Most of the students had the usual kind of history with music - they picked up an instrument in their music classes at school and eventually became a fixture in their school's orchestra or band and such. Hard working kids, who realized somewhere down the line that they enjoyed music, and that that was what they wanted to pursue for their future career - perhaps as a teacher, or maybe as a part of a symphonic orchestra if they especially diligent and talented.

And then, there were the other profiles. The profiles that would have easily blown away much more experienced teachers than Manami, considering how _young_ these kids were. Hotta Susumu, for example: he barely turned seventeen this year, and already the pianist had several impressive feats under his belt, including a solo concert at Kyoto Kaikan Hall. Tanaka Wakana and Ito Kosuke, among others, both were members of the Tokyo Youth Orchestra last summer. Kosuke in particular was very much a prodigy in terms of his skills on the violin. It made sense of course - one did not become the concertmaster of the highly selective and elite Tokyo Orchestra by being mediocre.

And of course, there was Ishida Yamato. Admittedly, Manami had never heard of the boy or his band, the TEEN-AGE WOLVES, prior to the career camp. But when Manami had flipped open Yamato's file a few days ago expecting the usual, she had instead been surprised with the simple words that Yamato had scrawled under "Musical Experience" in his resume:

_Lead vocalist and bass of the TEEN-AGE WOLVES  
- One album released (_Cry of the Moon_, 2002)  
- Management and Record contract under W+KTokyoLab  
_  
So as not to become biased in the auditions, Manami refrained from actually trying to find _Cry of the Moon_ for herself to listen to the music. But she didn't have to listen to Yamato's CD to understand that it was an impressive feat nonetheless. Not many teenagers could sign a music deal with a major record label and actually push out a real album. Still, though, she was wary of what Yamato's performance would be like in an actual audition. Manami didn't fail to notice that Yamato did not list any private lessons or even public lessons on his resume, which probably meant that he was self-taught - something that _would_ put him at a disadvantage if he truly wanted to pursue a professional music career in orchestras.

It wouldn't take him long to realize it. Manami was willing to bet, more likely that not, that Yamato would learn that the best way to succeed in music would be by sticking to making music with his band, since he had already established a niche in the industry that way. And once he did, he would bolt out of the orchestra, just like all the other self-taught musicians Manami had met in college.

She shook her head in an effort to shake out her thoughts. Whatever happened to Yamato in the future wasn't something that she should be worrying about if he didn't ask her for her help, Manami tried to tell herself. She focused again on the audition papers. Everything was in order, thankfully, and she gathered them up in her hands before walking outside to the main room. After she sat down at the conductor's stand, she glanced around the room to take quick stock of where everyone was.

It appeared that all of the musicians - and Sora, Manami remembered - were ready to begin, sitting in their usual seats. Predictably, as Manami had noticed over the course of the previous days, the room was divided. Kosuke and his other exceptionally talented friends claimed the east side of the room, closest to the door. Wakana and Yamato had their corner in the back of the west wall, where Sora and a few of their other friends sat with them now. Hotta Susumu was seated near them, though closer to the grand piano, with his music on his lap and his hands clasped together calmly. All the other musicians were crowded in the middle of the room, probably still oblivious that they were sitting in no man's land.

_In other words_, Manami thought wryly, _a typical gathering of talented musicians_.

She glanced at the clock on the back wall. It was time. Manami tapped her stand with her baton, and the conversation in the room fell silent. She cleared her throat. "I hope that you all are ready for today's audition. Keep in mind that I will be grading - and afterwards, seating - you all on a point basis, and that any personal preference that I may have toward you will have no part in how I assign points." Manami paused and then offered them all a smile. "Just relax, and try to do your best. Good luck."

She opened the first folder, picked up a pen, and called out the first musician to audition. "Aihara Kei, please step forward with your music."

Yamato fingered the frets on his bass as he listened to the others audition for their parts. They were good - all of them were. It made him feel nervous, like the time he had felt before his first concert with the guys in his band.

It was strange that he could feel so calm before crowds of hundreds of people, and, at the same time, be so nervous in a room with less than thirty people in total.

His turn was going to come up soon. They had zoomed through the beginning of the alphabet, and were now whittling through the H's. It was only a matter of time before they got to the I's. Then, it would be his turn.

His fingers unconsciously tapped the frets a little bit faster.

He envied Sora briefly in that moment. Sora was sitting a few rows in front of him, and despite her relaxed posture, he could tell from how still her body was that she was listening to the music intently. With nothing at stake for her in this session, she was free to enjoy the music as she heard it, and she was always the one who clapped the most enthusiastically after each person finished performing their audition.

Yamato could hear the music and recognized the rich, warm tones of each musician, but he could take no pleasure from listening to it. All he could really comprehend was the feel of his heart steadily pounding away in his chest.

In the row directly in front of him, Wakana sat calm and poised, her cello resting against her body and her bow loosely grasped in her hand. Across the room, Kosuke had his violin on his lap, looking relaxed, even bored. The both of them had probably gone through auditions like this a dozen times before, and probably more anxiety-inducing ones at that. When he compared himself to them, it only made Yamato feel even more uncomfortable. He must have been crazy when he signed up for music classes at camp. At one time, he'd actually thought that this was going to be _fun_. He rolled his eyes at his foolishness now.

As if sensing his discomfort, Wakana turned around slightly in her chair to look at him. "Nervous?" she mouthed at him, taking in his posture with a now-practiced eye. She'd been spending enough time with him now in the past few days to be able to read him fairly well.

"You have no idea," Yamato mouthed in return, grimacing a little.

"Don't forget to keep breathing." She winked at him, and despite himself, Yamato grinned back as Susumu ended his audition piece on the piano with a crash of triumphant chords. As far as Yamato could tell, Susumu had played the piece flawlessly, almost as if he had been practicing the song since infancy. Yamato's hand tightened around the neck of his bass a little bit more.

Manami was scribbling something down on the sheet of paper in Susumu's file. "Thank you, Susumu," she said when she was done, closing the file and opening the next one. Susumu vacated his seat just as Manami called out the next name. "Ishida Yamato."

"Good luck," Wakana murmured as Yamato bent down to pick up his music from the floor.

"Thanks," Yamato replied under his breath as he passed by her. He crossed the room slowly, trying to breathe evenly as he walked to calm down his jitters, the way he did before his shows. He set his music on the stand and sat down, shifting his bass so that he could hold it comfortably and twirling his pick back and forth between his forefinger and thumb.

Manami wrote something down on her paper before she looked up at him. Yamato met her gaze evenly, and found that she had a business-like expression on her face. Clearly, she meant what she said earlier about not allowing her personal opinion to affect her adjudication of their auditions. "The sight reading music is on the next stand," Manami said at length. "Read it over and start when you're ready."

"Right." Yamato shifted his gaze to the music stand holding the sight reading music sheets. He flipped through the pages and found the bass music, bringing it to the front and adjusting it so that he could see from his playing position. He swallowed to bring some moisture to his suddenly dry throat when he saw the complicated riffs on the page. _One step at a time,_ Yamato reminded himself. He forced himself to focus, breaking down the music into smaller sections so that he could read it more easily. This was only partly successful, though; he could read the notes, but it was difficult for him to keep the rhythm at the same time.

Belatedly, Yamato regretted not practicing more often with Wakana on sight-reading. After he had learned his audition piece, Yamato had preferred to hang out with Koushiro, Hayate, and Taichi instead of taking up Wakana's offer to practice some more. He realized now how foolish he would sound if he tried to sight read the music now, especially when he was going after so many other skilled musicians.

Yamato glanced up at Manami. Her face was perfectly smooth, betraying no emotion - a judge, and not a friend. He looked down at the stand again, and resolved to do the best that he could. The sooner he did, the sooner he could get past the sight reading piece once and for all.

Quickly, before he could change his mind, Yamato shifted his bass up into position, tightened his fingers around his pick, and began to play. He counted slowly, moving only his toes to tap against the inside of his shoes to help him keep time. He messed up a few times; he found himself losing his recognition of what the notes were when he forgot to look ahead, and was forced to improvise his notes by guessing what he thought they should sound like if they followed the chord progressions. It would be a glaring mistake to Manami for sure, and probably the better trained musicians as well. But he did his best to ignore how he imagined the other musicians' reactions to his music would be like, instead trying to concentrate on just getting through the entire song in relatively one piece.

When at last he finished, Yamato gave a silent sigh of relief. The entire room was still motionlessly quiet, but Yamato didn't try to find his friends' gaze to judge their reaction. Instead, he looked up to watch Manami's. If he was looking for some measure of reassurance, though, Yamato was to be disappointed. Manami merely shuffled her papers a little bit and wrote some things down as Yamato waited for her next instructions. When she finally looked up, her face was emotionless again. "Go ahead and start your audition piece when you're ready," she told him.

Yamato looked down at his bass and took a moment to gather up all the emotions he felt inside of him, to let them run their course until all he had left was his determination to do well. Now, he could redeem himself - could prove himself worthy to be here, even though he couldn't read music like everyone else and was untrained. _Just another performance_, Yamato told himself sternly to get rid of the last of his nerves.

He counted silently in his head the tempo that Manami had told them to play at. When he established the beat so that he wouldn't rush, he shifted his bass one more time and began to play. In the beginning of the song, Yamato's playing was a bit shaky - he always had some difficulty with the tricky discordant runs because it still sounded too jarring for him to remember well. But once Yamato moved on to the main part of the song, he couldn't help but to feel more relaxed, despite the room's quiet and the feel everyone's stares on him. Each crescendo and decrescendo, each arpeggio and chord brought him to feel every vibration of his bass, and it calmed Yamato, drawing him deeper into the music. When at last he finished the song, he felt relieved, confident that he played the song to the best of his ability.

It didn't bother him so much this time that Manami's face was still careful not to express any emotion. She only nodded at him slightly before calling out the next name: "Isobe Seiichi."

Yamato gathered up his music to free the stand up for Seiichi and strode back to his seat as Manami gave Seiichi the same instructions for the audition. Yamato noticed that Sora was steadfastly looking ahead at Seiichi, avoiding his gaze, but at least Wakana and Susumu both gave Yamato encouraging smiles. "You did good," Wakana whispered quietly when he took Seiichi's seat next to her.

Yamato nodded briefly in answer, and they both fell silent to listen to Seiichi's song.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Yamato's confidence about his audition to fade away. In a personal evaluation, he did well. But compared to the others? He was still pitifully behind everyone else. Listening to Seiichi play reminded him of the fact. True, he had experience with music by playing with his band for several years now. But that wasn't the type of music that he was trying to pursue in the orchestra.

Yamato wondered if this audition process was something that he would gradually get used to as time went on, or if it only a small taste of the dismay that he would face in the years to come. He didn't really want to know the answer just yet.

His self-doubt increased as he listened to more and more musicians play. When Kosuke went up to perform after Seiichi, Yamato fully understood for the first time why Wakana held such a grudging respect for Kosuke. Despite his arrogant and imperious personality, it all melted away in the face of his musical skills. The teen was a master at the violin, a true virtuoso. His facial expressions never changed from the look of concentration that was etched onto his features, but he gave a mesmerizing performance. Kosuke's fingers were practically a blur on the neck of his violin as he pushed the tempo far beyond what Manami had maintained was the average speed of the piece, his bow delicately but quickly flying over the strings like a hummingbird. Most impressive of all was the stream of emotions poured from Kosuke's violin, which sent shivers up Yamato's spine. When he finished his song, Yamato noticed that even Manami couldn't quite keep her expression of indifference in place.

Wakana performed admirably when it was finally her turn. Yamato had heard her play before occasionally in the space of the few days that they had to practice, and she performed her piece just as well as she had practiced. Her playing was soulful, but light, and every staccato that Wakana played was emphasized by the way her bow nearly bounced from string to string. Her performance wasn't flawless like Kosuke's or Susumu's, but she did well. When she returned to her seat, Yamato gave her a thumbs-up, and she grinned back in relief.

When the audition was finished, Manami stood up and organized the files into a neat file on top of her conductor's stand. "There's about half an hour left before lunch, but you're all free to leave now if you want," she told them. "However, I will try to tally up the points as quickly as possible. Hopefully, I'll be able to post up the seating list before lunch, so you can also stay and wait for the results as well." She paused. "Great job today, everyone." Manami gave them all one last reassuring smile before she gathered up the stack of files and went into her office room.

As soon as she shut the door behind her, conversation started up and filled the whole room. It was clear that no one wanted to leave, what with the prospect of finding out their seating soon. Wakana leaned forward to tap Sora on the shoulder and inquire about Sora's thoughts on the auditions. Yamato listened to their conversation absentmindedly - he didn't feel particularly compelled to add anything onto their conversation, since he knew that if he spoke up, it would make Sora fall silent. Wakana glanced at him curiously several times, but wisely left him to his thoughts and out of the conversation. It probably seemed odd to her that Yamato and Sora were not speaking to each other, but Yamato was grateful to her for leaving the issue alone anyway. Unfortunately, it would be too much to hope for that Kosuke's gang would leave Yamato alone as well.

Yamato was well aware of his less than popular status with some of the other musicians in the orchestra. He was no fool; his lack of training in comparison to their years of private study proved their 'superiority' over him. Normally, Yamato's inferiority would have assured their indifference to him, like many of the other musicians in the orchestra whose skills were bordering mediocre. But the fact that he held an actual record label, he learned, aggravated them and singled him out immediately as an enemy. Yamato had suspected as much when Kosuke had introduced himself, and Wakana confirmed Yamato's thoughts yesterday just before lunch.

"They're jealous," Wakana had whispered to Yamato as they left the music room. "They have the skill, but you have the publicity, the commercial success. I bet you right now that they've probably tried to form a quartet or something along those lines before, but no record label signed them on. They're just a bunch of bitter musicians. That's all."

Yamato certainly believed what Wakana said. What other explanation could there be, when Yamato only ever interacted with them a handful of times since camp started? Even now, he heard his name being whispered in derogatory comments about his sight reading from the east side of the room. He didn't bother to look their way, though. He wasn't about to give them the satisfaction of thinking that their comments bothered him. Despite the TEEN-AGE WOLVES' relative popularity, Yamato had had his fair share of dealing with anti's, and he knew that giving them his attention would only serve to increase the severity of their gossip.

A few minutes before the end of the morning session, Manami emerged from the room with a single sheet of paper in her hand. Slowly, the room fell quiet at her reappearance, and they waited for her announcement. When she had their attention, Manami began to speak. "I want to congratulate you all again on your performances today. I know that you all worked hard and gave it your all, and as your teacher, I really could not ask for anything more.

"That said, I want to reemphasize that I graded your auditions on an unbiased point system. If you feel that I gave you an unfair seat, I will listen to your comments but will not change the seating. You all should know that, as in any other professional orchestra, if wish to change your seating, you will have to arrange for a challenge with the chair you wish to have." Manami's tone turned severe. "Be warned: challenges will only be open up until the end of this first week. During the second week, we'll have no time for trivialities like challenges and will instead focus only on the music that we have to practice."

Manami looked around the room to make sure that her words were understood, and then she walked over to the back wall of the cabin. She pressed the list against the wall securely so that the tape would stick. When she turned around and noticed that no one had moved yet out of their seats, she finally smiled. "All right. I'm going back into my office to finish up preparations for the music that we'll be working on for the rest of camp. Feel free to look at the chart after I'm gone... and try not to hurt one another. I'd rather avoid having to reprimand any of you for acting like children."

When Manami exited the room once more, several people got to their feet right away to see the results. A babble of conversation started up again. Susumu turned around in his seat to look at everyone behind him. "Ready to see the list?" he asked them.

"I'd rather not have to see it myself," Yamato said lightly. "I know the score that I get will probably put my band to shame. You guys should go and check out your scores though. I know that you all did well."

"You did well too," Wakana insisted, turning to look at him, "considering the fact that you didn't know how to read music before. I'm sure that Manami took that into account."

"You did fine, Yamato," Seiichi added.

Susumu cleared his throat. "I'm going to go and check out the list. We'll let you know how you did, Yamato. Wakana, Seiichi?"

The three musicians stood up and walked toward the list, getting in line behind those already scanning it. That left Yamato alone with Sora. The silence was thick and awkward. He watched her carefully, debating whether or not to speak. He had a feeling that she probably wanted to ignore his existence completely, since it was clear that she was still mad at him. When she shifted her body slightly, Yamato spoke up. "What did you think?"

Sora stiffened noticeably, but Yamato waited patiently for her reply. When she realized that he was still waiting for her answer, she answered without meeting his gaze. "It was all right," Sora said indifferently. They lapsed into silence again, and this time, Yamato had to accept that she wasn't willing to talk to him. At that moment, anyway.

They were saved from their tense silence with the arrival of Susumu, Wakana, and Seiichi. "How did you do?" Sora asked them first, looking up.

Wakana sat down as soon as she reached her chair. Her eyes were widened a little as if in shock, and her cheeks were colored. "I'm third chair," she said faintly, almost in hoarse disbelief.

Sora looked at the others in confusion and Susumu explained "It means she's third best of the celli section" at the same time Yamato said, "That's really good, Wakana. You deserve it."

"Wow, Wakana," Sora said, leaning forward a little to pat Wakana on the knee in congratulations. "I'm glad that you did so well."

"How did you guys do?" Yamato asked Seiichi and Susumu as the two teens sat down.

Susumu crossed his legs, pleased. "I'm the section leader of the piano section - first chair," he added for Sora's benefit. "And Seiichi here just barely managed to place last in the first violins."

Seiichi turned to Yamato, as if to divert attention away from himself. "You did well too," he said in a rush, as if he was unsure of how Yamato would react to the news. "You're fourth chair, about in the middle of the bass section."

Yamato blinked. "How did that happen?" he asked, startled at the news of his seating. To be honest, Yamato had expected to be at the very bottom of the section. The fact that he had been seated in the middle was highly unexpected.

"Your audition piece, most likely," Susumu said with a shrug. "You probably would have been seated quite a bit higher, though, if your sight-reading was better."

"Tell me something that I don't already know."

The musicians began to analyze each others' auditions, good-naturedly critiquing each other on their performance. The conversation was halted when Sora suddenly remarked, "They look happy."

"Who?" Seiichi asked.

Sora lifted her chin slightly, indicating toward the east end of the room. The four musicians turned at Sora's comment to see that Kosuke was wearing a smug grin on his face, and his friends around him had equally pleased expressions as well. It was the first time that Yamato saw something besides the expressions of disdain that they usually had in the music room on their faces. "Did they do very well in their seating?" Sora asked.

"Of course." Wakana's clipped tone pulled their attention away from Kosuke's group and to the cellist. "All of them seated as section-leaders or second chairs. Kosuke's officially concertmaster - though we saw that coming," she added in an aside to Yamato. He nodded.

Seiichi shushed Wakana. "Don't let them hear you." He shot an anxious glance over his shoulder before turning back again. "Look, we all know that Kosuke and his gang are a pain to deal with, but it can easily get worse if you piss them off - especially since they hold all of the leadership positions in orchestra." Susumu coughed discreetly and Seichii corrected apologetically, "Except for the piano section, of course."

Wakana still looked annoyed, though, so Yamato nudged Wakana's knee with his own. "Don't let them get to you. You dealt with them last summer, and you can do it again this time too."

"I guess so," Wakana sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. The lunch bell rang then, and Wakana dropped her hand. "You guys go ahead; I need to put my cello away."

"I need to put my violin away too." Seiichi gathered up his things as well. "Save us a seat?"

Susumu nodded, picking up his music as Yamato slid his bass into its case and slung it over his shoulder. "We'll meet you there," Susumu promised. He turned to Yamato and Sora. "Let's go."

Yamato followed Susumu's lead out of the music cabin, hanging back a little so that he walked about the same pace as Sora. As soon as he did, however, she began to walk faster so that she could strike up a conversation with Susumu - pointedly giving him the cold shoulder. Yamato sighed. It was obvious that he was still unforgiven. He'd have to talk to her privately, sooner or later. They couldn't continue on with this game of talking around each others' sensitivities in between periods of tense estrangement. It wasn't going to work, not with their company being forced on each other so often.

After some thought on the subject, Yamato came to the conclusion that the reason why it was so difficult for them to talk to each other _normally_ was because of the manner in which they handled their break up. It was too abrupt, too hastily done. In their mutual desire to ditch their relationship, they had left too many loose ends behind, unresolved but not unforgotten. It was because of those loose ends that they were prevented from moving forward with their supposed 'relationship' of being strictly friends.

He frowned to himself. The thought that he had unwittingly sabotaged his peace of mind was a disturbing one. Yamato preferred being able to direct his life and he hated feeling trapped by the lack of options in his life. But then, it had been that way for a long time now. His band determined how much free time he had and how he spent it; his fans restricted where he could go without being swarmed by their presence. Even his friends, while they were well-meaning, tried to mold Yamato's social life into what they thought it should be.

He wasn't oblivious to their efforts. Yamato knew well that his friends were trying to get him and Sora back together. Taichi was not exactly a master of subtlety to begin with, and neither were Mimi and Koushiro. Only Hikari, Iori, and Takeru had any real tact at all concerning the whole matter - and even then, their intentions were transparent and much too obvious. But really, how could they seriously expect Yamato and Sora to so easily mend their relationship again? They should know better. He and Sora might not be as tenacious as Taichi, but they both had a will of their own and would not be easily dominated by other's desires.

Though to be fair, the others didn't really know the circumstances of their break-up to begin with. Yamato knew that Taichi and Mimi probably assumed that he and Sora had broken up over something trivial, and that it was only their pride that was keeping them apart. If any one of the Chosen Children knew the truth, Yamato suspected that they probably wouldn't be trying as hard to push them back together.

Yamato got into the lunch line behind Susumu and Sora, who were both still chatting away. He watched Sora attentively, waiting for some sign that he could join the conversation without inadvertently upsetting her - no small task, as he was treading on thin ice around her now. His opportunity came at last when a few of Susumu's friends from behind them in the line called out his name, halting the pianist's conversation with Sora. "Hey!" Susumu called back, waving energetically at him. "Give me a second, I'll be right there." He turned back and scratched the back of his head. "You guys don't mind if I -?" Susumu gestured to his friends, and Yamato shook his head emphatically.

"Nah, go ahead man. We'll see you later."

"All right, cool." Susumu waved to Sora and clapped Yamato on the shoulder. "See you."

Yamato watched Susumu walked away before nonchalantly checking around to see if any overenthusiastic fans had seen him yet. For once, it seemed that he was in luck. They were no where in sight. He looked back to Sora, who appeared to be still stubborn in her efforts to ignore him. She looked pointedly away, crossing her arms testily.

So the first move fell on his responsibility, then.

"Hungry?" Yamato inquired casually. Sora stepped forward past him jerkily as the line moved and only gave an indifferent shrug of her shoulders as an answer. "Is that a no?" he persisted, undeterred by her silence.

Sora looked past him. Just when he thought that she was going to continue ignoring him however, she suddenly said flatly, "Yamato, I really don't want to talk to you right now, if you haven't noticed."

Despite her words, Yamato was heartened by the fact that she was at least _talking _to him. It was an improvement, if he was looking at things on the bright side. "But I would really like to talk to you."

This irritated her. She narrowed her eyes fractionally. "Just because you want to talk doesn't mean that I do." She stepped forward in the line, and Yamato hurriedly followed. "Sometimes, you need to learn to be more considerate of others' feelings too," Sora added. "Just because you're a famous rock musician doesn't mean that you can expect everyone to cater to your needs and desires."

Yamato reached out to touch her shoulder, to make her look at him. "Sora, I never said that -"

"Don't touch me!" She flinched away from his hand, and Yamato froze, surprised by her outburst. The people around them - both in front and in back of them in the line - started to look at him and Sora strangely. When she realized this, Sora lowered her voice. "Yamato, just leave me alone, all right?"

"I just wanted to talk to you, in private." Yamato held his hands up. "Nothing else."

Sora looked up at him in the eyes for a moment, measuring him up. Yamato was careful not to react defensively to her scrutiny, ignoring his instinct to look away and trying to let her see how honest his desire to speak to her was. At length, she rolled her eyes. "Fine. We can talk." Sora was very clear to make it sound like her agreement was purely conditional, and Yamato nodded. She sighed. "Lead the way."

* * *

_Fool! Idiot! Pushover!_

Sora's mind was a stream of continual reprimands against her and her weak will as she followed Yamato's slow strides through the camp grounds. Even worse - her heart was racing, thumping erratically in her chest; her hands, despite the heat of the sun, were suddenly clammy in her pockets. For a brief moment, Sora considered mutiny against her body's uncontrolled reactions. If her body - and heart for that matter - would just _listen_ to the reasoning of her mind for once, she might've been able to avoid being in this situation altogether.

She didn't know why Yamato wanted to talk to her though, to be honest. He'd ignored her for much the past day anyway, and hadn't shown any remorse for ignoring her in favor of his fans. Sora tried to think of what there possibly could be left for them to 'discuss', and only came up blank. There was really nothing left for them to talk about - anything that would require them to talk privately, anyway.

Sora squared her shoulders resolutely. It didn't matter what they were going to talk about; to her, the manner of how they talked would be much more important. Yamato would conduct this little talk with an undoubtedly cool veneer - as always - and Sora was determined to keep the conversation on as equal a level as possible. She would show him that she too could be cool and unemotional and distant. Two could play at his game.

He stopped now by the small clearing, separate from the larger area that the other camp students usually occupied after lunch was finished and break time commenced. Extra insurance for their privacy, in a way. Sora walked past him when he stopped and sat down on the nearest bench, leaning her back against the grainy wood of the table top. He joined her there a moment later, and it didn't escape Sora's notice that he sat a careful distance away from her.

For the moment, she tried it ignore him. Sora looked up at the sky, glad that this conversation was taking place in the daytime. The warmth of the sun was comforting and made her feel safer. It gave her the courage she felt she needed to have this conversation with Yamato with at least a degree of poise. If nothing else, it would serve to make sure that Yamato had the impression that she had moved on, both from the incident with the fans as well as from the memory of their relationship. They weren't together anymore. They were just friends, and she would be fine.

She took in a deep breath in an effort to calm down her nerves.

Yamato was the first one to speak. "I wanted to apologize for what happened the other night last night."

_Didn't see that coming_. Sora was somewhat surprised. Yamato was never one, usually, to apologize for his mistakes, regardless of whether it had been his fault or not. His pride often prevented him from owning up to his shortcomings. She took her time to answer, considering his words and weighing her own before she spoke again. "What is there to apologize for?"

He took his time in answering as well. Sora realized that Yamato wanted to avoid any miscommunication of his thoughts too, and was taking great care to express himself in exactly the way that he wanted. "I know that you've never felt comfortable in those situations - when I'm dealing with my fans." He paused. "I shouldn't have left you standing there. Shouldn't have made you wait for me." His voice was low and serious. When Sora turned to look at him, surprised by his words, his head dipped and he looked at the ground, as if to avoid her gaze. "And I'm sorry."

Sora's eyebrows rose as she regarded him anew, taken aback by his sincerity. She rarely ever heard Yamato apologize so directly and clearly before, least of all to her. An involuntary warmth rushed through her at his apology, breaking down her earlier oath to be as cold as possible to him. She forced herself to keep a cool head, though, before she had the chance to say something stupid. "It's okay," she said instead, biting her lower lip down so that her voice remained even. "I understand."

He looked up then. His eyes were intense as he gazed at her. "Thank you."

"No problem." Sora breathed, feeling her warm breath slide out from her parted lips. And then, before she realized what she was saying, she blurted out, "There's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about."

Immediately after saying the words, Sora began to mentally kick herself in the head for being so thoughtless. _What happened to thinking before speaking? _she scolded herself. Unluckily for her, Yamato prompted, "Yes?" It was too late for her to back down now.

She swallowed. "It's about our... relationship." The last word inadvertently came out strained, and Sora watched Yamato visibly tense. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, shaking her head slightly and cursing herself for pursuing the topic. "I know it's not something that either one of us wants to talk about. You know what? Just forget I said anything. I'm going to go back to the dining hall -"

"No, you're right," he said suddenly, stopping her from getting up from the bench and allowing her to make her embarrassed escape. "We should talk about this."

Sora released a breath - of relief or of worry, she wasn't quite yet sure. She twined her fingers together and twisted them as she tried to think of what she wanted to say, exactly, now that she couldn't leave. "We haven't exactly been good at this 'friendship' thing," she said eventually, watching her fingers twist in her lap.

"That would be an understatement." His voice was sardonic before he turned serious again. "The way things ended - well, it wouldn't be easy to be friends after that... fight."

"Yeah." Sora interlocked her fingers as she struggled to find the words she wanted to say. When her fingers failed to give her the words she wanted to say, she gave up and looked at the sky instead. "Every time I saw you, I kept remembering everything that happened. What you said - what I did." Yamato remained silent, so Sora continued. "After that, it was easier to just avoid seeing you altogether."

He was quiet as he considered her words before he finally shook his head. "It doesn't matter so much how it ended. The point is that it ended."

There was an undercurrent to Yamato's words that she couldn't understand, though she could sense that it meant something deeply to him. It annoyed her briefly. She wished that he would just stop being so cryptic. As if he expected her to be able to sort through the words that he said to try to understand the meaning of the words that he _didn't_ say. She sucked in a breath to calm herself. Sometimes, it was hard to be around Yamato and to keep one's sanity at the same time. "So what now?" she said resignedly. "We can't go back to what we were. And, thanks to Taichi and the others, we can't even go our separate ways."

"We could try being friends."

Sora turned in her seat to look at Yamato. His arms were crossed, and his legs were stretched out in front of him. At some length, he turned his head and looked at her full on the face. They both measured each other's appearances for a long time. Then, carefully, slowly to make sure that she saw his move, Yamato reached out his hand out to touch her elbow.

Sora tried not to let him see how much she was struggling with herself at this, and after a moment he said, "We used to be friends, before we got together. It's possible for us to be that same way again." When she still failed to answer - still trying to decide what exactly she wanted - Yamato moved his hand away and said coolly, "If you don't want to -"

"I do." Sora's answer tumbled out, and her gaze dropped down to his hand pressed against the seat of the bench. She warred with herself and closed her eyes. "I missed you," she admitted reluctantly, the words hurting her more than she could describe to say. "I missed being able to talk to you whenever I was having a hard time."

"I know what you mean." Yamato's voice was thoughtful, without a hint of amusement at her confession. It made her feel better about her moment of painful weakness, and she opened her eyes. "I felt the same way - because you get me in ways that some of the others just can't." He scooted a little bit closer, and Sora bit her lip as she turned to look at him again. "I know that I don't exactly have the best track record with you, Sora, but I really do enjoy being able to call you my friend. So, maybe we could take a second chance at this friendship thing. Yeah?" Yamato's eyes didn't betray any falsehoods in his offer, and he held out his hand to her.

_Tempting, _Sora thought. _But can I really handle this?_

It took her a moment before her lips twitched into a small smile. "Yeah," she said, nodding, loosening her hands so that she could reach out and hold his hand. "I guess we could."


	6. Unexpected Developments

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
**Author's Notes: **Wow. Somehow, I just can't stop myself from adding more characters... must be a side effect of all the original fiction I've been reading lately. Anyway, as always, please read and review. I appreciate hearing your thoughts, my reviewers, and nothing makes me happier than hearing your opinions on the story so far.

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**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter VI: Unexpected Developments_

* * *

"Where did they _go_?" Taichi hissed at Koushiro under his breath as he stalked along the forest path. His strides were long and purposeful, and Koushiro was forced to jog slightly to keep up with him.

"Taichi, for the last time," Koushiro began to say, sounding as if he were somewhat insulted by Taichi's attitude, "you need not treat me as if I were a conspirator in all this. I have no further understanding of this whole matter than you do, remember?"

Taichi groaned, choosing not to reply to Koushiro's comment. "I can't believe this! Susumu leaves them alone for a few minute at most, and then the both of them disappear into thin air. Even worse, Wakana mentioned that they were both acting strangely in music today." Taichi fisted his hands in his hair, irritated. "This completely ruins our plan of getting them back together! Who knows what they'll get up to, when they're alone and left to their own devices?"

"Can you even hear the things you're saying, Taichi?" Koushiro interrupted, exasperated. "The last time I checked, Yamato and Sora were both adults, the same as us. They're capable of making their own decisions and taking care of themselves." He huffed, catching his breath for a moment. "And I still don't understand why you're so determined to find them out now, either!"

Taichi glared at his shorter friend, though he did not slow his pace in the slightest. "Koushiro. Do you want Yamato and Sora to get back together again?"

Koushiro looked uncomfortable. "Well, yes, but -"

"When you look back on the way they acted around each other in the weeks _before_ camp began, wouldn't you think that they're finally making progress?"

"Yes, but -"

"And wouldn't you say that they're making progress because of _our_ help?"

"You have a point, but -"

Taichi stopped in his tracks, and Koushiro nearly rammed into him. He continued nonetheless. "Koushiro! Just think about it! The only reason why they're doing so well around each other now is because we've helped them along. That doesn't mean that they're ready to hang out with each other _alone_ yet. You saw what happened the last time we left them in a room together without anyone else in there with them. They wouldn't look each other in the eye for a whole month!" Taichi reminded Koushiro hysterically.

Koushiro just rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, Taichi, I think you're overreacting. You should give them both some more credit. Even if they might not want to get back together - which is a perfectly plausible possibility - they'd hardly want to get into screaming matches either. They're not that type of people. Neither Yamato nor Sora enjoy confrontations."

Taichi only shook his head as he began to walk again. It was obvious for him to see that debating with Koushiro any more on this point would be similar to trying to stop Daisuke from eating more junk food: the only thing Taichi could gain would be a sore throat and a possible headache. Just like Daisuke, Koushiro could be stubborn about things he felt certain about. Taichi sighed. "Whatever. We can argue about this some more later. The most important thing that we have to do now is find them and try to stop them before Sora runs away in tears and Yamato smashes his bass into pieces from frustration."

"I don't think that they would react in _quite _that way..." Koushiro paused.

"You know what I mean." Taichi sidestepped a few people on the path, leading the way through the camp clearing, annoyed as he registered the bright glare of the sun overhead. Taichi scowled internally, annoyed at the way the day was becoming.

Team Platinum, for their second day on the streets, had done a better job at scavenging their items on the list. But it wasn't accomplished easily at all. Kiku and Kohei had remained immature, blatantly flirting with each other at times while Suzu glared at them for their lack of focus. Taichi had tried to get them on track, but neither one of them thought that he was being serious, which had made things worse. It was obvious as the day wore on that the strain of having to do the work for their teammates was difficult for him and Suzu, and he wasn't sure how much more Suzu would be able to take before she finally exploded on them all.

Of course, not seeing Sora or Yamato at lunch had worsened his mood even more. Taichi had assumed that, by the time he returned to camp with Kiku, Sora would be sitting with Koushiro and Hayate again, and Wakana and Yamato would probably be late because they were so involved with their music. He didn't like that Sora and Yamato's silence had remained for so long, but at least they were more civil about their problems in public than Suzu was toward Kohei.

As it happened, though, Taichi didn't get the chance to revel in the rare moment of peace. Koushiro and Hayate did arrive first, as usual. Sora, Wakana, and Yamato were nowhere to be found, but none of them paid much attention to it since they knew that the music cabin was tucked away on the furthest end of camp. However, when Wakana finally arrived without them... well, Taichi and Koushiro got worried.

They both hid their nervousness well, of course. There was no need to alarm the others at their table about the disastrous potential about Yamato and Sora's disappearance. For all Hayate, Kiku, and Wakana knew, it was probably a regular occurrence for Yamato and Sora to just go off by themselves once in a while. Obviously, Taichi and Koushiro knew otherwise. Taichi took out his Digivice to text them both to see where they were, and Koushiro took it upon himself to subtly inquire Wakana about why the two had gone off on their own. It was through this that they learned from Wakana about Yamato and Sora's strange behavior in music class. Later, when Susumu passed by the table and Wakana asked him why Yamato and Sora were not with him, the pianist revealed that he had left them in the lunch line together to join some of his other friends. Koushiro and Taichi stopped their questions there, not wanting to alert the others to their concern.

It made Taichi feel incredible uneasy. He recalled that, just a few days ago, after leaving the girls' cabin before dinner, both Yamato and Sora had been rather relaxed (a direct result of Taichi's gift at making people full comfortable, of course). However, in the space of time that he and Kiku had gone on ahead to get to the dining hall and then actually sitting in the dining hall with the others to eat, Taichi realized that something had gone wrong between Yamato and Sora. Dinner was awkward and silent for the both of them; even later, when the boys returned to their cabin, Yamato remained brooding.

When Taichi pointed the fact out to Koushiro now while they were walking, the computer genius contemplated Taichi's concern for a moment before speaking. "I asked Yamato about it that night, before you woke up. And even though he wouldn't tell me what happened directly, it sounded like he was going to take responsibility for whatever he did to Sora, and that he would have it all under control." Koushiro rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe he wanted to talk to Sora privately about whatever it was that they had a falling out over. It sounds like something that Yamato would do, if he realized that it was all his fault."

"Yeah, but Yamato's not exactly good at apologizing either," Taichi reminded Koushiro. "For all we know, Yamato might say something accidentally and Sora'll take it the wrong way. And then what will happen? We'll be set back even further in our attempt to get them back together."

Koushiro sighed. "Look, let's just try to find them first, okay? We're probably just speculating for nothing," he said, grumbling a little as he swatted at a mosquito.

They crossed into the clearing, both of them searching for Yamato's obvious blond hair and Sora's auburn hair to stand out among the generally darker heads of the other camp students. "I don't see either one of them here at all," Taichi said, frowning at his failure. Koushiro gave up shortly after as well.

"Well, they'd hardly be hanging out in public," Koushiro reasoned out after a moment. "Yamato's a verifiable celebrity, at least in this particular age group of Tokyo. I don't think that he would want to talk to Sora privately in a rather crowded place like this, where they could be easily eavesdropped on and spotted. And don't forget, you know how much Sora hated it whenever Yamato got crowded by his fans. I think that, if he and Sora were going to work out their misunderstandings about the other night, Yamato would _probably _choose a more secluded location on the camp grounds so that they could both talk more freely. Or, as freely as they can manage around each other nowadays, anyways..." Koushiro trailed off, noticing how Taichi was giving him a strange look. "What?"

Taichi shook his head. "Sometimes, Koushiro, I think that you think way too much." He punched his friend in the arm lightly. "And would it have killed you to say all of that _before_ we started looking for them in the clearing? We're wasting time here!"

Koushiro shrugged. "You never know. It's better to be thorough and check all the possible locations for them to be in at camp. What if we ended up wandering around in the forest for hours, looking for them, only to find out later that they were in the clearing all along? I don't think you would have been very happy about that. No, I think this is probably a better method of searching for them." He stopped again when he saw the expression on Taichi's face and sighed. "Never mind."

"Well, if they're hiding out in some secret area in the forest or something, we might as well just give up and let them be," Taichi muttered. "The camp grounds are huge. They could be anywhere."

"Or they could be right there," Koushiro said, shielding his eyes from the sun and pointing toward the opposite edge of the clearing.

Taichi spun around. Sure enough, Koushiro was right. He could tell from the bright colors of their hair being hit by the sunlight as they stepped out from under the trees that it was Yamato and Sora. "It is them!" he realized excitedly. "Finally, a break! Come on; let's go make sure that they're okay."

As they walked closer toward them, Koushiro nudged Taichi in the ribs. "See, I told you, Taichi."

"Told me what?"

Koushiro pointed a thumb at Yamato and Sora, who were still a distance away. "Do you they look like they're upset or angry at each other to you? See, they look perfectly fine. Didn't I tell you that they were only going away to work things out on their own?"

Taichi looked again and realized that Koushiro was right. "I guess so," he said, surprised. "Sorry man, I was just worried about them."

Koushiro shrugged. He could afford to be generous, now that his theory was proven correct. "It's understandable. You make mistakes all the time, Taichi."

"Don't remind me," Taichi groaned before he took a breath. "Yo! Yamato, Sora!" Taichi cupped his hands around his mouth and called out their names when he and Koushiro got closer. Yamato and Sora saw them both and Sora waved back as they walked toward them.

"Hi Taichi, Koushiro," Sora greeted them, smiling, when the four finally reached each other.

Taichi stuck his hands in his pockets. "Where've you guys been? We were all wondering where the two of you had gone off to during lunch," Taichi said casually, hoping that they would reveal more than just a mysterious, vague answer. Yamato, though, saw through his act.

"Just hanging out," Yamato said calmly as he ran a hand through his hair. "We didn't feel like eating."

"How can you ever _not_ feel like eating?" Taichi said automatically out of habit, though his eyes flicked back toward Sora to study her reaction to Yamato's words. She looked didn't look bothered by his explanation - or lack of one - and Taichi decided that, whatever had happened, the two of them were _probably_ okay now. He'd have to check his conclusion with Koushiro later. But for now, Taichi wanted to take a break from the guessing games and just have fun with his friends.

"Not everyone has an appetite the size of the Pacific Ocean," Yamato was saying with a roll of his eyes. "You're an abnormality, Taichi."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Taichi tossed back easily.

"Whatever." Yamato turned to Koushiro. "Do you know what time it is?"

Koushiro checked his watch. "It's approximately ten to two o' clock. Why?"

"I've been meaning to visit Gabumon for a while, and I think now would be a good time. Tell him the good news of my seating in orchestra in person and all that. I'll see you guys at dinner, okay?"

They all nodded. "So how was your day, Taichi?" Sora said once Yamato began walking away. "Did you find the rest of the products on your scavenger hunt list?"

Taichi raised his eyes heavenward, and Koushiro explained quickly to Sora. "They managed to find almost all of the items that they needed, but they're having some cooperation difficulties within the group."

Sora looked to Taichi. "Oh?"

"Kiku and Kohei are driving me crazy," Taichi confessed. "They never focus on what we're actually doing - too absorbed in each other. And Suzu nagged us more this afternoon than my mom nags me to eat my vegetables in a week." He turned to Koushiro. "I wish that you were in my group! You helped me more in my task today than any of my other team members." Taichi grinned. "Maybe I could persuade you to fit inside my pocket or something. That way, you'd be portable and I could use you whenever I needed to!"

"You'll have to bribe me a large sum of money if you think that I'll agree to an arrangement like that," Koushiro replied dryly. "But I suppose that that's simply your way of thanking me, so I'll just have to take it as it is and be grateful I get any thanks at all."

"Hey, that's not fair," Taichi protested. "I _did_ thank you. You put in a lot of hard work to help me out today, and I'm grateful that you did, Koushiro."

"All right, then. You're welcome."

"I thought that you liked Kiku, Taichi?" Sora asked him, a puzzled expression on her face. "Actually, I thought that Kiku liked you. What do you mean that she and Kohei are too absorbed in each other?"

Taichi shrugged. "Well, Kiku's a fun person. I like talking to her. I don't think that Kiku and I would make a good couple, though. Kohei's more her type of guy. I think they realized that today... or yesterday, I'm not sure. But they were totally focused on each other today. I don't think that a word I said got through to them at all." He made a face and changed the subject. "Anyway, can we drop this conversation? I'd rather forget about what happened this morning, if you catch my drift."

Koushiro and Sora laughed. "So what do you guys want to do now? We have approximately three hours or so to kill until dinner time," Koushiro said, checking his watch again. Taichi grinned at that.

"How d'you guys feel about a game of good old soccer? Unless you think you'll lose, of course. It's been a while since you played, Tennis Girl," he teased Sora in particular, reaching over and ruffling her hair affectionately.

"I'll have you know that I can still run circles around you _any _day," Sora replied, ducking out from the reach of Taichi's hands with another laugh. "But did you even bring your soccer ball?"

"Of course I did! I never go anywhere without it," Taichi said, pretending to be insulted by the suggestion that he'd left it behind. "It's in our cabin. I'll go and get it if you guys really want to play." Taichi paused for a moment before he actually left. "Y'know, I bet that some of the other soccer guys here will want to join in on the game too. Why don't we go find them to ask? I think that Kohei and his friends would be up for a pick-up game, and maybe some other people too."

"That's a good idea. You go and get the ball, and Sora and I will check around camp to see if any soccer players would be interested," Koushiro suggested.

"Sounds good." Taichi saluted them both. "Be right back!"

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, the epic impromptu soccer game that Taichi had organized in the clearing during the afternoon break was _still _one of the main topics of conversation. Sora found it amusing, the fact that the game was still so deeply discussed. She supposed that it shouldn't have been too surprising. After all, a few of the best soccer players in Tokyo were at summer camp with them, which meant that there were sure to be a few soccer-crazed people to enjoy the game. She knew well the exhilaration that came with watching and participating in a lively soccer match.

True, when Taichi had invited other people to play soccer with them, she had initially feared that a few school rivalries would later become an issue on the field. But, it luckily never even came up in the course of the game. In fact, it was as if school rivalries didn't matter. Everyone just wanted to enjoy themselves. Even the people who weren't in soccer teams at their schools - like Sora and Koushiro, for example, and many of the other students - had joined in the fun, making the game much more interesting. When the bell finally rang to end their game and signal that it was time for dinner, a lot of people had been complaining and grumbling about the inopportune timing. But, they reasoned, the next day would probably bring a new game as well, so they all went without too much of a fuss.

At their table now, sitting across from the girls, Taichi and Kohei were yet again making play-by-plays (with the inevitable additional commentary) of the game to a tolerant Yamato. From where Sora was sitting, it sounded as if the soccer players' stories were becoming more and more wildly exaggerated with each telling. Sora sighed, though not unhappily. It wouldn't be a real soccer game unless the guys managed to somehow inflate their own egos in the process as well.

"You played yesterday too, didn't you Sora?" Wakana asked, drawing Sora's attention back to the girls. Wakana's short hair was standing on end, as a result of her mussing it up so often in frustration as she made notations to her music sheets.

Sora nodded in affirmation as she set down her disposable wooden chopsticks across her bowl. "Yes, I did. I used to play soccer, actually, before I went to high school and started playing tennis. Soccer was how I met Taichi and Koushiro, when we were little kids." She smiled as she remembered the fond memories that she had of her childhood adventures with Koushiro and Taichi.

Kiku, overhearing Sora's remark, turned in her seat and clapped her hands together. "Aw! That must've been so cute. I can totally imagine you guys as toddlers, kicking around a soccer ball that was, like, half your height -"

"We weren't _that _short, Kiku." Sora's smile widened and Wakana laughed.

"You know what I'm trying to say!" Kiku laughed too. "I was just kidding anyway."

"Hey, so do you know which class you're going to visit today?" Wakana asked Sora when they stopped laughing. "Or is Ran going to send you someplace random again?"

Sora sighed at the reminder of her rather vagabond-like schedule at camp and said slowly, "Well, while I was listening to the auditions yesterday at your music class, I was also thinking of what other subjects I would be interested in seeing and visiting."

"And?" Kiku prompted when Sora paused.

"Maybe art class?" Sora looked down at her lap and straightened the hem of her tee shirt. "I've taken painting class in school before, so I know that I like it. Maybe art class here will help me like it more..." She added, "And if it turns out that art isn't the right match for me, then I might be able to talk to the other students and ask them to direct me to some other art class to try out."

"That's a good idea." Kiku nodded vigorously, agreeing with Sora's plan immediately. "I hope it all works out, Sora. The first week of camp is almost over, now. You're going to run out of time if you don't get a move on it, woman!"

Wakana clucked her tongue at Kiku disapprovingly. "Don't remind her. She's already feeling stressed out enough without your help."

"Okay, okay! I get it. Sorry, Sora," Kiku apologized hastily. Sora nodded, and Kiku asked Wakana, "So you're probably going to be working on your music all day today, right? Since your auditions are over now and everything."

"Yeah, I'll have to start practicing even more now," Wakana admitted. "In some ways, it gets easier from here on out. Auditions are stressful because everyone is so ambitious and wants to do well in seating, so once that's decided, the pressure is off to be the best. Now, the focus for the whole orchestra is to on working together as a team to sound good." Wakana looked suddenly doubtful. "At least, that's how it's _supposed_ to work."

"What do you mean?" Kiku asked, leaning forward and resting her chin on her hand. Her eyes were intent on Wakana's face. Sora found herself intrigued as well.

Wakana considered her words carefully before she spoke. "I have a bad feeling about this, guys. This orchestra - it's a lot more _divided _than any of the other orchestras that I've been a part of before. I don't know if we'll manage to all cooperate and work together, or if people's egos will get in the way."

"Well, just keep thinking positive, and don't stress out over things that you can't control," Kiku advised Wakana, and Sora nodded silently in agreement. "That's what _I'm _going to do. It's, like, the only thing that we can do to cope at this point."

Sora recalled Taichi's tired comments about his business group from the day before and said concernedly, "Taichi mentioned that things weren't going so well in Team Platinum yesterday, but I thought that he was just exaggerating. Was he telling the truth, then?"

"How come you didn't tell us about this yesterday?" Wakana asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kiku took a quick glance around, and shook her head. "Look, I'll tell you guys later. There're too many people around - and besides, the bell is going to ring soon. We should get going." She looked speculative. "How about we all take the afternoon off from the boys - and music," she added, giving a pointed look at Wakana before continuing, "and hang out? With just us girls in the cabin? I think that we're like _way _overdue for some quality female bonding time. And no, Wakana, you're not allowed to play the cello in the cabin either. You seriously need a break from that thing."

"Sounds good," Sora agreed and Wakana rolled her eyes but nodded well. Sora stood up then, picking up the remnants of her breakfast. "I'll see you guys later, I need to check in with Ran and see if it's okay that I go to art..." She made a quick stop on the other side of the table to say her goodbyes to the rest of her friends before traipsing to Ran's office. Luckily, Sora managed to arrive before any of the other exploratory course students arrived, so she was able to go in and see Ran as soon as she arrived. "Hello Counselor Ran."

"Sora!" Ran waved her in. "How are you this morning?"

"Good. And you?"

"Excellent." Ran made some small talk with Sora for a short while before asking, "So, have you decided where you want to go today?"

Sora nodded. "I'd like to go to a painting class, if that's all right with you."

"Painting sounds fine. I think that you'll like the teacher - she's a friend of mine, Chiasa." Ran pulled out a piece of paper and began to scribble the directions to the class cabin. "Painting actually shares a room with the other arts - sculpting, digital art, design, that sort of thing. From what Chiasa and the other art teachers have been telling me, a lot of the art students bounce back and forth between the different art areas. So if you decide that painting is not what you're interested in, you can continue to go to the class to try out some other form of art as well."

"Sounds good." Sora took the proffered paper from Ran. "Thank you. I'll see you at lunch."

"Good luck, and have fun," Ran answered, walking to the door with Sora to open it and usher in the next student. "Let me know how it turns out."

Sora smiled. "Don't worry, I will."

It didn't take long for Sora to reach the art cabin, and she instinctively knew that it was the art building when she saw it. It was easily the largest class cabin she'd seen (which made sense, since it housed more than class in it). All of the windows and doors were thrown wide open, and a radio was pumping out music. Over the sound of music, Sora could hear the sounds of loud conversation as well. The amount of activity inside the art room made Sora step nervously inside the art cabin doorway, cautiously scanning over the heads of various students seated at their workstations for a teacher who could help her. When she failed to figure out who was 'Chiasa', Sora turned to the nearest student. "Excuse me," Sora began to say, "but I'm looking for, um, Chiasa. Is she here?"

"Oh, Chiasa?" The girl looked around the large studio, and pointed to a woman near one of the large windows who was conversing with a group of painters. "That's her."

"Thank you," Sora said gratefully. She slowly walked around the workstations, unable to spare a few moments to look at the artwork that she passed by, before she reached the lady. "Hello," Sora greeted, bowing respectfully. "My name is Takenouchi Sora. I'm on the exploratory course, and Counselor Ran sent me over to your cabin today to observe the art class."

"Ah, I see." The teacher nodded at Sora. "My name is Chiasa – I'm the painting teacher here at camp. I'm glad that you've decided to visit the art classroom today. Have you had any art experience before?"

Sora twined her hands behind her back. "Well, I've taken a few painting classes at school before. And my mother owns a small flower shop – she taught me the basics of flower arranging. But that's really all the exposure I've ever gotten to art."

Chiasa laughed. "That's fine. You don't have to have a lot of experience in able to enjoy doing art. But I hoe that you don't expect to only observe the class today. You should do some art as well." She nodded again musingly and gestured to one of the nearest unoccupied workstations. Sora sat down on the stool immediately as Chiasa handed Sora a piece of paper and pencil from a supply shelf. "If you don't mind, can you sketch out this cup right here, on the shelf?" Chiasa pointed out the cup to Sora. "I would like to see how your drawing skill is."

"Um, okay." Sora looked up at the cup and blinked nervously when she gazed back down at the open sketchbook on her desk. To be honest, Sora felt a little bit pressured to draw while Chiasa was watching over her shoulder. Sora coughed and began to ask, "Is this -?"

Chiasa saw the expression on Sora's face and immediately tried to reassure her in a soothing voice. "Oh, don't worry. This is not a test of any kind. I would just like to see how much you've learned in your art classes at school, so that I know who to pair you up with today. Don't feel nervous." When Sora's expression did not change, Chiasa took a step back and smiled. "I can see that you're still uncomfortable, so I'll leave you to your work. I'll be in the design section of the room – over there, behind the screens – if you need me. All right?"

"Yes ma'am." Chiasa departed, and Sora looked back at the cup again. Fingering the pencil nervously, Sora sighed, muttered to herself, "Don't be a coward," and began to sketch the cup out roughly. As she drew, she reminded herself of all the lessons she had learned in art class at school. The form of the cup was all right – it was difficult to just eyeball the cup and sketch it out, so some of the proportions were a little bit off. But Sora tried to make up for it by shading the shadows carefully and taking care to erase a small portion of the cup for the highlight on the glossy finish.

As she worked, Sora occasionally stopped to take a thorough look around the room. In the area that she was seating in, the painting section, nearly all of the other students wore smocks and had a paintbrush in their hand as they worked over their canvases. Not far away from the painters were a few worktables where the sculptors sat; they were busy getting their hands dirty and making forms out of clay and other materials that Sora couldn't recognize. There was also a group holding some professional looking cameras (photographers, perhaps?), who walked around and took random photos of the other students - some even drifted outside and took photos of the campsite. An area was also sectioned off for long tables with a number of desktop computers on them. A few of the students sitting there held tablets, so Sora assumed that they were probably animators, or some sort of other digital artists.

There was also large partition that divided the room into half, and Sora could hear the familiar whirring sound of a sewing machine going on from behind there, perhaps a dozen of them going at the same time. Though Sora couldn't see who exactly was working there, she assumed that it was probably the fashion designers who were working back there. It made her curious, and she remembered that Chiasa had said that she would be in that section of the room, so Sora gathered up her sketchbook and navigated carefully through the room to find Chiasa.

When Sora looked behind the screen, she saw that her guess was right; it was the design section of the art studio that was behind the partition. There was a few people flipping through some fashion magazines, and a couple more were working at the sewing machines. Chiasa was helping one boy with bright blue hair with his fabric, apparently discussing what type of paint he could use to make a pattern on the cotton. Sora quietly approached the teacher so that she wouldn't disturb the others students' work, and the boy looked up and nudged Chiasa when he realized that Sora was standing close by. Chiasa turned. "Hello, Sora. Are you finished?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it's all right or not," Sora said as she handed the sketchbook over to Chiasa, "but I tried my best."

"This is pretty good," Chiasa said approvingly as she examined the drawing. The boy peeked over to take a look too. "You're good at shading, I see." Sora nodded wordlessly, intent on watching Chiasa's expression. The teacher handed the sketchbook back to Sora at length and winked at her. "I was curious about your work ethics in art class. Some people take art for the easy grade – and it takes no work at all for me to spot them out when I ask them to sketch something. But I could tell that you took in a lot of factors into account when you drew the cup, even though I just asked for a simple sketch. I'm impressed."

"It's really good," the boy agreed with Chiasa.

"Thank you," Sora said as she took the sketch back. Her cheeks heated after hearing the compliments that they both gave her.

Chiasa gestured around the room. "Well, this is basically our art class. I don't teach very much to the class as a whole, and neither do the other art teachers. We just help and assist the students by giving them advice on how to proceed if they feel stuck or uninspired. Nearly everyone here has their own style of art, and we as teachers are just happy to provide a place where you can work with other creative kids." Sora nodded understandingly, and Chiasa continued. "So, Sora, which type of art would you like to try out today? Computer design, perhaps? Or maybe sculpting?"

"If I choose to do painting today, does that I mean I can only do painting for the rest of camp?" Sora checked with Chiasa after a quick moment of consideration. She wanted to make sure that Ran hadn't misinformed her.

"You can, if you'd like. But some of the other students like to switch mediums to experiment after they finish with their current project." Chiasa shrugged. "Really, we have no set rules here. If you'd like to try one medium out today and another tomorrow, I can really only encourage you to do so. Experimentation is the rule here." She turned to frown at Yuu. "Was it you or your friend that switched from sculpting?"

"That was me," he answered, nodding slightly.

"Right." Chiasa looked to Sora again. "So you see, you don't have to worry about keeping only to one medium."

"Okay, then." Sora mulled over the possible mediums she wanted to try and then decided, "I've always wanted to learn how to use watercolors."

"A good choice to start off with, Sora." Chiasa beamed. "Go ahead and sit in the painting section. I'll come and help you out after I finish up with Yuu here, so you can get acquainted with some of the other students while you wait."

"Nice to meet you, Sora," Yuu added, smiling at her.

Sora nodded and smiled back at him before walking around the partition to enter back into the main room. This time, as she headed back to the painting area of the room, she looked more closely at the painters' work that she passed by to see who else was working with watercolors. Her search led her to discover that there was only one other person doing watercolors; nearly everyone else was working with acrylics, tempera, or oil paints. Luckily, the guy working on watercolors was sitting near a group of free workstations, so Sora sat down quietly to observe him as he painted.

She watched dip his paintbrush in a glass jar of water, swishing it around, before taking it out and wiping it dry with a piece of paper. His eyes were still focused on his half-finishing painting when he suddenly spoke to her. "You new to watercolors?"

He looked up after a moment, and Sora met his green eyes with a sense of deja vu. _I think I've seen him somewhere before_, she thought, a nagging feeling of forgetfulness tugging at her mind. He had short, curly brown hair, and the angle of the light that shone on his hair revealed that there was a hidden reddish tinge to the brown. His identity came to her in a second, and made her think of Kiku at the same time.

_Greek god._

Externally, she nodded to the boy, realizing that he had asked her a question. "I'm actually new to the whole class." Sora inclined her head in greeting. "I'm Takenouchi Sora."

The boy put his paintbrush down and stuck out his hand for her to take. "Paul." Sora shook it briefly, and then he picked up his paintbrush again. "Are you joining our class permanently?"

His Japanese was strangely accented, and Sora found herself ignoring his question for the moment in favor of asking him curiously, "Where are you from?"

Paul smiled. "I'm from the US, originally. My mother remarried a Japanese businessman a couple of years ago, and we all decided to move to Tokyo together." He laughed quietly. "Luckily, I already knew some Japanese from taking foreign languages at school, but even now, my friends still make fun of me for my accent." He gestured to the artists who sat nearby, bent over their paintings.

"Oh, I see. The accent isn't too noticeable," Sora said. "And... you're a fine arts major?"

Paul nodded. "So is almost everyone here." He looked at her penetratingly. "Are you an undecided major?"

"Here you go, Sora," Chiasa said, interrupting their introduction to each other by returning to Sora's side with a thick piece of white paper, pencils, and brushes. "Sorry that took so long; it was more difficult than I thought to convince Yuu to choose a different fabric - oh." Chiasa looked surprised to see Sora talking to Paul. "I see that you've already met our resident watercolor artist."

Sora nodded and she took the materials from Chiasa's hands and set it down on her worktable. "It wasn't too difficult to find him," Sora said lightly. Paul did his quiet laugh again and shook his head, returning to his work again.

"Yes, seeing as how he _is _the only painter working with watercolors at the moment." Chiasa grinned. "Well, we have some props in the cabinets over there that you can use to set up your picture. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me or any of the other students here for help. Have fun!"

"Okay." Sora spread out her materials on the desk and stared at the blank page for a long moment, trying to think of what she wanted to paint for her watercolor. But she kept drawing a blank - she didn't want to try to imitate something that the other painters had already done, but she couldn't think of anything. "Paul?" she asked aloud.

"Hmm?"

"How did you choose what you wanted to paint?"

Paul shrugged, wiping his paintbrush clean and setting it down again. "I just went through some of the props in the items cabinet. There have some pretty interesting stuff in there. You should check it out, something might inspire you," he advised her. "Want me to help you out?"

"Yes, please," Sora said, scooting off her stool to follow Paul's lead. "I need all the help I can get."

* * *

"_Dish_, woman! I can't believe you didn't tell us that you met the Greek God before!" Kiku couldn't help but screech when Sora walked in through the cabin door. "And don't you dare tell me that Greek God only _happened _to invite you to sit with him and the rest of his friends at lunch today just because _their _table happened to be closer to the food bar than _our_ table was!"

"Kiku was very upset that you didn't invite him to join our table," Wakana added.

Kiku had been flipping through her magazine, waiting impatiently for Sora to come back to the cabin. After the lunch bell rang, Kiku and Wakana had promptly stood up and tried to ask Sora to go back to the cabin with them - but Greek God had insisted that Sora stay a while longer, so the girls had no choice but to wait in the cabin for Sora to return. Now, Kiku had to wait again for Sora to close and lock the door before crossing the room and joining Wakana on her bunk bed. So far, Sora hadn't replied to either girls' prompting, so Kiku instead relied on Sora's appearance to give her hints on if anything big had happened.

Sora didn't appear to be any happier or sadder than usual. There was no tell-tale blush or flush of embarrassment on her cheeks - something that Kiku had suffered from after mustering up the courage to approach Greek God's table, even though Wakana had walked with her. Of course, Sora was more comfortable around guys than Kiku was (the girl had only guys for best friends, it seemed like). She bit on her bottom lip as she thought and narrowed her eyes. There had to be _some_ clue to give her an idea of what had gone on at lunch!

When Sora didn't seem to be making any effort to answer their questions, Kiku tried again. "Sora?"

The red haired girl sighed heavily. "Well, Paul - that's his name, by the way - was in my art class this morning. After class was over, he invited me to join his friends for lunch. That's it, really."

"What did you talk about?" Kiku prompted immediately, knowing that there _had _to be something good behind Sora's reluctance to talk about it. Next to Sora, Wakana put down her music, obviously curious as well to hear what Sora had to say.

"Camp, mostly. The people we've met here. What art class is usually like. Stuff like that."

"And what else?" Kiku pressed. Sora didn't answer, and Kiku noticed right away from the other girl's expression that something was definitely up on Sora's mind that she didn't want to talk about aloud. "That's _all_? That's all that you talked about while you were sitting at Greek God's table?"

Sora glanced at Kiku's face, and, upon seeing the determined expression on Kiku's face, rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh, fine. You're horrible, you know that, Kiku?" Sora glared at her. "Why can't you just let it go and respect other people's privacy for once?"

"Why should I? It would take all the fun out of life," Kiku said, ignoring Sora's empty barb and just pleased that Sora was going to give in and tell them more details. "Okay. Tell us. Even Wakana looks like she wants to hear about this - not that I blame her, it _is_ Greek God after all -"

"How can I not want to hear about Paul, what with you constantly trying to persuade Sora into telling us?" Wakana cut in dryly.

Kiku waved a dismissive hand. "That's not the point. The point _is_, Sora accomplished the impossible and got herself invited to sit with Greek God and the rest of his tragically artistic friends." She faced Sora. "And you're going to tell us everything about it, like, right now!"

Sora sighed again and pushed her red hair out of her face. "I might as well get it over with, because you'll drag it out of me eventually anyway," Sora said with a definite tone of defeat in her voice. "I told Paul and Counselor Ran that I was going to stick to art for the rest of camp."

"_What_?" Kiku yelped in surprise.

Even Wakana looked taken aback. "Really, Sora?" she asked.

Kiku was too busy imagining all the possibilities to let Sora answer Wakana's question just yet. "I knew it! I just _knew_ that you liked him! Didn't I tell you at lunch, Wakana? The body language between the both of you was just - ah! I have no words to describe it. But you guys would make such an amazingly cute couple; I give it my stamp of approval." Kiku sighed happily. "True, Greek God is incredibly hot and I would love to have him myself, but I have to say that if you can get him, Sora, I have no complaints about it."

"Er, Kiku, you might want to calm down," Wakana interrupted, scratching her head uncomfortably and glancing at Sora. "I'm pretty sure that you're getting way ahead of yourself. All Sora said was that she was going to join art, she didn't tell us why yet."

Kiku opened her mouth to protest, but Wakana shot her another look, and Kiku sighed. She mimed zipping her lips and she held out her empty palms, gesturing for Sora to continue speaking. Sora rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Wakana. Anyway, like I was saying before I was interrupted, I told Paul and Counselor Ran that I wanted to stay in art. And no, Kiku, it's not what you think. I didn't choose art because Paul was in the class." Sora frowned. "I chose it because I _wanted_ to. I enjoyed the class, and there's some flexibility in how I work there. So I thought it would be worth it to stick to it, for the rest of camp anyway. Like you so kindly reminded me this morning, there's not a lot of time left for me to still be undecided.

After I told my teacher Chiasa that I wanted to stay, Paul invited me to eat with the other artists at lunch. And I accepted - _not_ because I like him or anything like that," Sora said hastily, when Kiku tried to speak again, "but because I wanted to hear more about why he and the others decided that they wanted to major in art. That's all."

"That was a good idea," Wakana said, nodding to Sora. "Was listening to them helpful?"

Sora smiled. "It really was. They feel so passionately about their different arts, it's kind of like you and your music. It was nice seeing people who knew exactly what they wanted to do with their lives." She laughed. "It's a refreshing change from the indecision I've been feeling lately."

Kiku tried to stay quiet and listen to Wakana and Sora continue on in their conversation, but she couldn't help but blurt out, "So there's no chance that you and Paul are going to get together? At all?"

"Kiku, please," Sora said with a pained expression on her face. Wakana laughed. "I'm not like you. I'm not constantly thinking about future potential relationships."

"Well, someone has to. So you're sure that you and Paul are a no-go?"

"Kiku."

"Okay, I was just checking. So... do you think that means that _I _stand a chance?"

"Kiku!"

Kiku dodged the pillows that Wakana and Sora both threw at her. "All right, all right! I get it. I'll lay off of it, for now anyway."

The girls laughed together. "So, Kiku. You never told us what was going on with your business group," Wakana reminded her when their giggles died down.

"Ugh. Now there's something that I would mind not talking about," Kiku groaned, throwing the pillows back at Wakana, who caught them deftly. "I'm warning you, it's not exactly pretty."

"All the more reason why you should tell us," Wakana reasoned. "Maybe we can help, since we can give an outside opinion."

"I doubt it, but what the heck." Kiku grinned wryly. "So I figured out that Taichi's not really my type, but that Kohei kinda _is_ -"

"What!" Sora and Wakana exclaimed at the same time, but Kiku shushed them quickly.

"Ah! It's your turn to do the listening, okay?"

Sora scoffed. "You weren't really a good listener when I was doing the talking."

"Well, you're better at listening than I am, so I can afford to make a few slip-ups." Kiku sighed. "As I was saying. I like Kohei. It kind of grew from spending so much time with him in business. He's so funny and he can be the biggest dork, but we just click. Taichi keeps laughing at the both of us, but I don't really care since Kohei is such a cool guy."

"I assume that there's a problem where in all this?" Wakana asked, raising an eyebrow. Kiku shushed her again.

"I'm getting to it! So I like Kohei, and I _think_ that he likes me too. And you can probably guess that we may or may not be flirting all the time when we should be focusing on our business task." Kiku ignored the disapproving look on Sora's face and continued, "So Suzu - who's a real workaholic, let me tell you - has been pretty irritable with us lately. Me and Kohei, for not paying attention, and also at Taichi for tolerating us, I guess."

"Well, she has a right to feel upset. You guys are supposed to be working, and instead you're not acting focused at all," Sora pointed out. "It's not like business class is the only time that you get to spend with Kohei. You should respect Suzu's feelings and flirt with Kohei during break or something."

"I know, I know. But I just can't help it." Kiku made a face. "You know how it is. You like a guy, and you can't stop thinking about him. And then, when you're together, you can't think straight." She sighed. "That's pretty much how I feel about Kohei." They were all silent for a moment as they absorbed Kiku's words before Kiku shook her head and turned to Wakana. "Okay. Sora's talked already today, and I'm pretty much done with business class. Let's talk about _you_."

"Me?" Wakana looked alarmed. "What can we possibly have to talk about with me?"

"How's music?" Sora asked, shrugging. Kiku waved a hand impatiently.

"No, no, no. We talk about that all the time anyway, and we all know that her answer's going to be. 'Busy - but I'm having fun.' Or, if she's been spending time practicing with Yamato: 'All right. I just helped Yamato out today, and I really think that he's getting better at playing in an orchestra,'" Kiku mimicked, and Wakana laughed. "Or, if it's one of _those_ days: 'Ugh. One of these days, I would just love to sock Kosuke in the face!'"

"I would never say that!" Wakana protested, though she looked like she was having difficulty looking suitably scandalized.

Sora laughed. "Kiku has a point. You never come out and say it like that, but we all know that that's what you're really thinking."

Kiku winked. "Your face can be super easy to read sometimes, Wakana." She clapped her hands together. "Now, seriously. There's been something I've been _dying_ to ask you, but you have to promise to answer me honestly, instead of trying to change the subject or anything like that. Okay?"

Wakana hesitated. "All right. What is it?" she asked warily.

"Do you like Yamato?" Kiku demanded. Almost immediately, a pillow was thrown at Kiku, and this time she wasn't fast enough to dodge it. She got hit squarely in the face. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You don't have any tact, do you?" Sora retorted, scowling. "Is there seriously anything else that goes on inside your brain other than people's love lives?"

"But it's all in good fun, Sora! You know I don't mean any harm by it," Kiku protested. Wakana shook her head.

"I guess I have no choice but to answer, if it'll keep Sora from attacking you, Kiku," Wakana said dryly. "To answer your question, no, I don't like Yamato. We're strictly just friends."

Well. Kiku certainly didn't expect Wakana to be so truthful about it. "Wow. Seriously?" Kiku asked, stunned and somewhat deflated by Wakana's straight admission. "How can that _be_? I was so sure that you liked him! You're always spending time together, always talking... Are you sure you don't like him?"

"Completely and absolutely positive," Wakana affirmed. "I mean, I guess I can see where you made the assumption at a glance that we liked each other. We get along well with one another and have a lot of stuff in common, like music. But even though we got along from the beginning, I've never really even considered the possibility of going any further than just friendship with him." She shuddered. "Actually, I think it'd be incredibly weird and awkward."

"But how can you be sure that he doesn't like you?" Kiku asked curiously. "Yamato's so mysterious and cool about everything, how can you be sure you know what he's thinking?"

Wakana shrugged. "I don't claim to understand him any better than either one of you - especially Sora, since you guys have been friends since before camp," Wakana amended. "But if you look a little more carefully at the way he acts, you'll see that Yamato's never shown any preference toward me over any other girl. He treats all girls the same. So I'm assuming that means that I pretty much rank the same in his eyes as the both of you."

Kiku considered Wakana's explanation and found herself nodding slowly. "You know, I think that you may be right. He's never flirted with anyone at camp, as far as I can tell. And, now that you mention it, he kind of treats us girls the same way he treats the guys. He doesn't act differently around us at all." This conclusion bothered Kiku, though. How could someone as popular, handsome, and talented as Yamato _not_ be on the lookout for a girlfriend? All guys were supposed to be, for heaven's sake! But she kept the thought to herself, unwilling to get scolded by Sora again for her one-track mind about potential relationships. Instead, Kiku asked, "Sora, tell us. Does he act like that at school too?"

"What?" Sora looked up, her eyes refocusing on Kiku as if she had just been totally zoning out. "Sorry, I was thinking about something. What were you asking?"

Wakana leaned over the edge of her bunk bed a little more, her own eyes intent on Sora's face. "I was wondering if Yamato has shown any preference for a girl at your school or something. Because, well, it doesn't seem like he acts like there's any one particular girl that he likes at camp, so I was thinking maybe it's because there's a girl at school he likes?"

"Thinking about relationships again?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow. Kiku didn't deny it. She'd just have to accept the fact that her curiosity was completely transparent to Sora's observant attention. "Well... no, I don't think there's anyone he likes." Sora shook her head slightly. "I haven't seen him acting differently toward anyone at school, so I can't give you a positive answer on that."

"Yamato is such an enigma!" Kiku complained. She flopped back down on her bed tiredly. "How do you _ever _know what the guy is thinking?"

Sora laughed. "You don't. Yamato has never been one for showing his emotions to the rest of the world. He likes to stick to the background, so that he could do whatever he wants without anyone bothering or questioning him about it. He's always been introverted, even when we were still in elementary school."

Kiku rolled over on her side so that she could watched Sora speak, intrigued. Wakana looked at the redhead too with an expectant expression on her face.

She continued. "It was easier back then, though, to get Yamato to come out with his feelings, because he had a shorter temper than he does now. All it would take was for Taichi to make an insensitive comment about Yamato's hair, or the way Yamato was so overbearing to his younger brother Takeru. And then both of them would start a yelling match, or start punching each other to the ground."

"Really?" Kiku asked, surprised. She tried to picture a miniature, laid-back Yamato and confident Taichi slugging each other or yelling at each other, and found that she couldn't even comprehend it. She'd never seen the two best friends so much as snap verbally at each other with real heat, let alone beat the other up. "So why is he so different now?"

Sora shrugged. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it to herself. "We all got older. Grew up and changed," she said, pulling at the pillow. "Yamato began to retreat behind this cool facade that he created - the indifferent musician appearance that he put on in front of his fans and stuff when he performed - more and more often, until he actually _became_ indifferent off stage too."

"Because music was starting to become a larger part of his life," Wakana noted, as if she knew exactly what Sora was talking about. Sora nodded.

"I guess you're right. And then, we got to high school. That's when people started to become really nosy about Yamato, to the point of stalking him at times. They always wanted to know more about what his life was like, and all because of his 'celebrity' status. But the thing about Yamato is that he has a very strong protective streak that extends not only from his brother but also to his friends." Sora looked down at the pillow on her lap. "Our group's secrets and issues slowly started to become gossip fodder for people to speculate about, and while it bothered all of us, it bothered Yamato the most. And so he started to distance himself away from us, thinking that it was the best way to protect us."

Sora's face cleared suddenly, as if she had just suddenly realized what she was musing aloud about. She clapped a hand over her mouth, shocked at herself. "I didn't mean to tell you guys all about that. I got carried away. Please, don't tell Yamato that I told you guys about this, I know he'd be upset if he found out," Sora said anxiously. For a moment, Kiku saw a flicker of fear go across Sora's face, and she sat up slowly, trying to figure out why calm and level-headed Sora was acting so strangely.

"It must have been a very hard time for all of you," Wakana was saying gently, touching Sora's arm comfortingly. "I know from personal experience that it's tough, hearing people talk about you behind your back -" It finally came to Kiku, and she gasped, mentally kicking herself for not being able to see it sooner. Wakana stopped, and looked worriedly at Kiku. "Um, Kiku? Are you okay?"

Kiku's wide eyes settled on Sora. "The two of you - you guys used to date each other. Didn't you?" Kiku asked urgently. Sora's eyes flickered with surprise, her cheeks turning pink, and Kiku knew that her conclusion was right on. "I can't believe it!"

"Am I missing something here?" Wakana asked confusedly, looking back and forth between the two girls.

Sora's shoulders slumped. "I guess it wouldn't have taken you long to piece it together," she said wearily to Kiku before answering Wakana. "Yamato and I... we used to be boyfriend and girlfriend."

Wakana's jaw dropped. "Seriously? For how long? And why didn't you say anything?"

"We dated for a few years," Sora revealed unwillingly, her eyes back down on the pillow again. "I didn't say anything because..."

She trailed off, struggling, and Kiku's heart suddenly swelled with sympathy for her. Kiku got up and sat down next to Sora to hug her briefly. "You guys just broke up recently, didn't you? That's why you didn't want to say anything. Because it bugs you to just think about it."

"Well, not exactly 'recently'. It was several months ago. But dating for as long as we did, it still kind of feels like it just happened," Sora admitted.

"How _did _it happen?" Wakana asked softly, scooting closer so that she could hug Sora too.

Sora sighed. "Even I'm not sure how it happened. There's no way that I can tell you exactly at what point in our relationship things went wrong. But I suppose that it started unraveling when, like I said earlier, Yamato began to distance himself from us. Now, I can understand why he acted that way. But back then, I - I felt very hurt. The both of us have always been very close to each other, since we've been through so much together. But then, we got to high school, and things changed.

"There was quite a bit of 'drama' our first year, because we all had a hard time adjusting to the new atmosphere and harder classes. Yamato began to build friendships outside our group with the older cool crowd." She bitterly laughed here. "You can imagine why. He and his band mates fit right in. So did Taichi, since his soccer skills got him a lot of attention. But Koushiro and I were left drifting, and we all kind of split that first year - went our separate ways, to figure out where exactly we 'belonged'.

"There was a period of time where we all tried to work things out as a group. We didn't hang out very much during school hours because we had so many different classes, but we tried to find time outside of school to just hang out, like we used to. But as time went on, I began to notice that Yamato didn't want to hang out with us. That he wasn't comfortable around us anymore. I overlooked it at first, thinking that he was probably just stressed with his band or his parents, or that I was just seeing things and overreacting. But then it just became too much to ignore.

"I confronted him about it." Sora fell quiet. When she spoke again, her voice shook slightly. "It was the first time that we ever really got into a big fight. I had so many things that I'd wanted to ask him about, because I wanted to work things out between us. But when I actually tried to talk to him, the way he was acting just made me so upset that I lost my temper. I deliberately said some things that I knew would anger him, and ended up saying lots of things that I regretted later once my temper cooled down. But by then, the damage was done.

"I didn't talk to him for months after that. Neither one of us told the others, but they all figured out that something was wrong. I thought that I had been doing a good job of pretending that everything was fine. In the end, though, it was kind of obvious to everyone that things had blown up between me and Yamato. At first, Taichi told the others to just let us calm down on our own, believing that things would work out in time. But months passed, and Yamato and I were both too stubbornly prideful to admit we were in the wrong. So Taichi, Koushiro and the others took it upon themselves - like any other group of good-meaning but meddling friends - to force us back on speaking terms."

"When was this?" Kiku asked, interrupting Sora's story in spite of herself. "That you guys weren't talking to each other."

"Just earlier this year."

"Really?" Wakana said, sounding surprised. "I wouldn't have guessed it was not so long ago. You guys act so coolly around each other..."

"Yamato and I are good actors," Sora said with a tired smile. "Our family lives are equally complicated, but neither one of us like to accept help from other people. So to keep our friends from suspecting that we have issues at home, we've learned since we were young how to pretend that things are totally fine." Sora's voice turned wry. "Of course, acting so well has its drawbacks as well. You have no idea how many times I've been upset at Taichi, but that I hid it so well that he never realized it until he said one insult too many and I all but bit his head off."

Kiku and Wakana both laughed, relieved that Sora broke the tension of the conversation herself. Kiku nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't think Taichi's good at reading subtleties like that. Yamato, on the other hand... he's more perceptive, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is. Most people can't tell when something is bothering me, but Yamato's always been able to read through me." Sora frowned as if this upset her. "Though I can't say the same about him. I'd flatter myself and say that I probably have a slightly better insight into the mysterious workings of Yamato's mind than the average person. But even then, it's not much."

"When did you guys start talking to each other again?" Kiku asked. "Not to make assumptions or anything, but if you guys had that many issues with each other in the past, it's hard to believe that you're still just acting like you're cool even _now_."

"We didn't start talking to each other on a regular basis until a few months ago," Sora answered as she rubbed her neck. "Before Taichi and Koushiro intervened, we wouldn't even look at each other. For me, it just hurt to look at him, because I would always remember the things that he had said to me in that fight." Kiku was curious for Sora to elaborate on what exactly was said in that fight, but decided against it. There were some things that a person was entitled to keep private, and a break up fight was one of them. "Of course, our ignoring each other didn't stop Koushiro and Taichi. Once they got it into their heads that we should be back on speaking terms... well, we didn't have much of a choice."

"When you guys first came to camp, I remember thinking it was strange how you would look at Yamato with this sad face sometimes, but then act like everything was completely normal whenever he looked back," Wakana recalled.

"It was Koushiro's idea to go to camp. He figured that if he could get Yamato away from his usual group of friends and his band, then the two of us could work out the whole 'friendship' thing more easily." Sora paused. "And I'm kind of glad that I listened to Koushiro. I've seen more of Yamato and talked to him than I would have normally, and we kind of worked out a few of our problems yesterday."

"It's good that you guys are talking again," Wakana told Sora warmly. "Maybe this is a sign that things will get only get better now."

"I completely agree." Kiku bounced up and down on the bed. "Who knows? Maybe Yamato will realize the mistake he made in letting you go, and he'll get back together with you -"

"No!" Sora looked alarmed, and Kiku stopped mid-bounce. "No, Kiku. Yamato and I - we're over. Really. Please don't try to get us back together again."

"But it's so _obvious_ that you still like him a lot. And I'm sure that he still cares about you too!" Kiku said, nearly dying from the thought of playing matchmaker between the two. The idea was exhilarating. "Come _on_ Sora!" But Sora shook her head firmly.

"We broke up for a reason, Kiku. If we got back together again, we'd both be absolutely miserable. I'd rather not reopen those wounds, not when I'm finally starting to get over him."

"Are you?" Kiku asked doubtfully.

Sora nodded. "I really am. Just... please, Kiku. I'm already having a hard enough time trying to stop Taichi and Koushiro from butting their heads even further into this. I don't want to have to stop you too."

"Well... I guess I could," Kiku said distractedly. In her mind, she was already thinking of how to approach Taichi and Koushiro and convince them to let her in on their plans. But no need to alert Sora to _that_. Kiku changed the subject by standing up and stretching slightly. "Well, this has been very educational. But I'm dying for some fresh air. Want to go walk around the campsite? Maybe we should go find the guys."

Sora stood up, pulling out her phone. "Good idea," she said gratefully, apparently glad that Kiku had dropped the subject. Kiku felt a slight twinge of guilt, but brushed it aside. "I'll go and call them to see where they are now," Sora volunteered, stepping out of the cabin to make the call, leaving Kiku and Wakana together.

The two girls gazed at each other for a long moment as they heard Sora speak to Taichi. Wakana spoke up first, after measuring up Kiku briefly. "I know that you're not going to leave it alone," she said quietly, so that Sora couldn't hear. "Are you, Kiku?"

Kiku shook her head. "No, I'm not. As soon as I'm out of Sora's earshot, I'm going straight to Taichi." She measured up Wakana as well. "Don't try to stop me, Wakana. You saw how Sora reacted. It's pretty obvious that she's not over Yamato, even though she insists that she is."

Wakana rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to stop you," she said, sounding both amused and exasperated at the same time. Kiku was taken aback.

"You're not?"

"Of course not, silly." And Wakana smiled, a slow, mischievous smile that Kiku was surprised to ever see on the cellist's face. "I was going to say... whatever you plan to do... I want in."

Kiku gaped at Wakana. "Guys, let's go! The guys are in the clearing, playing soccer again," Sora called out as she opened the door. "Taichi says that they need a referee for the game, so I need to hurry."

"Coming," Wakana said cheerfully. She walked breezily past Kiku and out the door. "Hurry up, Kiku, you heard the woman."

Kiku stayed frozen in her spot, still too shocked to move. Sora looked at Kiku worriedly. "Are you all right?" she asked, peering at Kiku carefully.

"What?" Kiku shook her head. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Wakana's words were slowly becoming clearer to her in her mind, and Kiku found herself gradually grinning, despite herself. She ran out the door, past a bewildered Sora, and searched until she found Wakana. She was already further down the path, with her arms folded across her chest and a challenging expression on her face. Kiku's grin grew wider until she was beaming, and Kiku yelled out happily to Wakana, "I _knew _I'd get you over to the dark side eventually!"


	7. Tempers and Complications

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
**Author's Notes: **Here I am again! I hope the wait wasn't too long (I know my updating history hasn't been the best). Feedback is always amazing, so please read and review and remind me of why I love Sorato so much. Thanks.

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter VII: Tempers and Complications_

* * *

Suzu was not happy. Not happy at _all_.

It wasn't because Kiku and Kohei flirting with each other all the time. She could care less about those two.

Well, it _was _annoying for her to have to put up with it all time. But that wasn't the reason why she was unhappy.

And it wasn't because Taichi continually failed to try to keep Kiku and Kohei in order (something that clearly demonstrated his lack of leadership skills as well as his complete favoritism toward Kiku and Kohei). It's not like she expected him to treat her fairly anyway.

Okay, maybe it _was _upsetting for Suzu to always have to get the bad end of all the group arrangements. But that wasn't why she was unhappy either.

No, the thing that bothered her most of all was the fact that it was their second day of selling the scavenged items at the market - and that compared to everyone else in the business class, Team Platinum was, by far, the least profitable stall. For the second day in a row.

They were even behind the Bubblegum Princesses! If that wasn't disgraceful, Suzu didn't know what was.

Suzu ground her teeth in frustration. She couldn't believe this – this – this _insanity_. She couldn't wrap her mind around it. It was unbelievable. She had saved up her wages from work for the past few months to be able to afford to attend career camp; now that she was here, Suzu had made the unfortunate realization that she had basically spent all of her money to simply lose every single business task that Hiroyuki had given the class thus far. For someone as competitive as Suzu, the very idea of failing at anything in life was incomprehensible. But the fact that she had failed twice now, in the space of one week, with a probable number of future failures if she continued working with this team, made her want to scream at the top of her lungs.

She had been thrilled at first at the beginning of camp when Kiku had asked Suzu to join Kiku's team with Taichi and Kohei. That first day, it seemed as if their team would get along extremely well: Suzu had figured that she could supply the brains to the group strategies, and then Kiku could use her persuasive skills with the opposite sex to get Taichi and Kohei to do all the grunt work. It was a flawless, dummy-proof plan.

Of course, life rarely ever followed any plan, regardless of whether it was dummy-proof or not. When it came time to nominate their team captain, Suzu had assumed that the position of leadership would immediately fall onto her shoulders by default. Kiku, she reasoned, would surely vouch for Suzu's abilities, since they had gone to school with each other since their elementary years. And the boys - being brainless athletes with surely more interest in girls than in taking the class seriously - would undoubtedly follow Kiku's lead.

But to Suzu's surprise, Kohei had suggested that Taichi take up the spot of team leader, and Kiku had enthusiastically agreed without another thought. And within five seconds, Suzu's position of leadership had been snatched away from her and given to an incompetent fool who didn't know the difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics.

Just thinking about it _still _gave Suzu a headache.

And now, it seemed that Team Platinum - a name which, incidentally, Suzu had disliked intensely upon hearing it but had given in for the sake of moving on to more productive matters - would never recover from their losses. At first, Team Platinum had been an early favorite for the 'most successful team' at camp because Taichi was so charismatic and confident in their ability to work effectively. But now, they were on a steady, downward spiral in terms of Hiroyuki's favor, and the name 'Team Platinum' had become something of a joke to the other business teams.

Suzu groaned aloud. She was trapped in her definition of a 'personal hell'. And she was desperate to find a means to escape, by any means humanly possible.

She glanced around their market stall, still dismayed by what she saw. Taichi was standing out front, valiantly trying to call out the 'low' prices of their items in order to tempt other people to come by and check out their wares. Unfortunately, because Team Platinum had failed to find good deals when buying their scavenged items compared to the other business teams, they were having a horrible time of trying to catch any potential customer's interest.

To further Suzu's annoyance, Kiku and Kohei were _supposed _to be in charge of haggling prices with prospective customers - but as they _had _no current customers, the two of them were simply flirting with each other instead as if they were the only two people in the world. It was enough to make Suzu sick.

She closed her eyes and tried to count to ten, breathing deeply as she did so in order to calm herself. But she had barely reached the number six before Suzu heard Kiku squeal loudly as Kohei mercilessly tickled her.

The jarring noise made something in Suzu just snap. She opened her eyes and glared at Kohei. "Do you _mind_?"

"Mind what?" he asked distractedly, still laughing as he continued to tickle Kiku. The girl's face was bright pink now as she laughed uncontrollably, trying futilely to bat the soccer player's hands away from her.

"Knock it off!" Suzu hissed angrily, standing her ground. "We're supposed to be taking this business task seriously, Kohei, and it's not helping that you're -"

"Guys, can you try not to bite each other's heads off for once?" Taichi interrupted wearily as he ducked under the shade of their stall. He fanned himself with his hand in an attempt to ward off the heat, but gave up when it didn't help. "It's tough enough trying to get people to check out our stall without having to hear you guys argue at the same time."

"I wasn't arguing!" Kohei defended himself as he released Kiku, who pressed her hands to her cheeks to cool her face down. "Kiku and I were just having some fun when Suzu started to -"

"Started to what?" Suzu interrupted crossly. "I was only trying to get you guys to stop fooling around, so don't make _me _look like the bad guy here!"

Kohei rounded on Suzu. "You always find something to complain about, don't you?" Kohei accused, stepping forward. "To you, we're never working hard enough or seriously enough or enthusiastically enough or something. You're always nitpicking at us and the way we do things. Even when we _are _focused on our task, you manage to find a way to criticize us for being too loud or too slow. Can't you just accept the fact that we can't be working machines like you?"

"Kohei, man, calm down," Taichi said, his eyes widening with alarm as he stepped in between Suzu and Kohei. He shot an anxious look at the stalls nearby, whose operators were starting to become curious about the amount of noise Team Platinum was making, before looking back at his teammates. "Don't try to start a fight; we need to work together, as a _team_. Arguing with each other isn't going to help us get any better."

"But she started it!" Kohei protested, pointing at Suzu.

Suzu narrowed her eyes at Kohei. "How immature," she sneered at him. Then she shot to Kiku, "You really know how to pick your share of guys to work with, Kiku. I can't believe I let you persuade me into joining this motley crew of idiots!"

"Suzu, that was really uncalled for," Taichi interrupted, turning around to face her. For once, his wide brown eyes were serious, any trace of merriment gone from them. "Look, Suzu, I get that you're upset that our team isn't doing so well. I really do. But you shouldn't take your frustration out on the rest of us. We're trying to do the best that we can too, you know."

"Oh, are you? I was under the impression that the only reason why Kiku and Kohei were in this group was so that they could just flirt with each other all day," Suzu spat out cruelly. "I'm sick and tired of being a part of this 'team'. It's become pretty clear to me that there are really only _two _of us working most of the time anyway."

"We work too," Kiku replied, her face contorted in such a way that Suzu couldn't doubt that she had insulted Kiku. "But you can't say that we're never working – not when there's nothing to actually _do_, since not that many people are coming to our stall in the first place - "

"So why don't you just go out and goddamn _persuade _people to come check out our stuff instead of just _fooling _around with Kohei all the time?" Suzu all but shouted, Kiku's excuses doing nothing more than to anger Suzu. Kohei glared back at her, and Taichi tried to step in between them and to calm Suzu down again.

"Come on, Suzu. Kiku's right. It's not their fault. Please, just try to look at this calmly -" Taichi had tried to rest his hand on her shoulder, but Suzu slapped it away, irritated. He had no right to touch her as if they were friends.

"You know what?" Suzu said rapidly when she saw the hurt look on Taichi's face. "I'm sick and tired of _you _too_, _trying to defend their laziness all the time. You can't keep making excuses for them, Taichi. You know that they're not pulling their own weight; the only reason why they haven't gotten in trouble with Hiroyuki yet is because you keep trying to protect them." He said nothing to object to her words, and Suzu released an angry breath. "Well, guess what? I've had enough of you and your stupid favoritism." Suzu stalked out of their stall, steadfastly avoiding the gazes of the other curious business class students.

Moments later, Taichi had run out and caught up to her. She looked directly ahead, but Taichi kept pace with her. "Suzu, what are you talking about? What are you trying to do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Suzu asked, sarcasm leaden in each of her words. "I'm quitting the team, Taichi. I'm quitting, and there's nothing you, or Kiku, or Hiroyuki can say that will persuade me to change my mind. Not even if you got down in front of me on your knees to _beg_." Suzu spoke the words without losing a beat of her stride, eager to reach the place where she knew Hiroyuki would be, observing the teams.

Taichi, though, continued to walk on at her side to keep up with her clipped steps. "C'mon, Suzu, you can't leave the team. Remember what Hiroyuki said at the beginning of camp? That the teams are supposed to be stuck together for the rest of camp, no matter what?"

Suzu abruptly stopped in her place and scowled up at Taichi's face, furious that he was still so damn persistent in bothering her. "I'm sure that Hiroyuki'll make an exception," she hissed, "when I tell him that, for the sake of my own sanity, it would be better for me to be on a different team. Because it's pretty obvious that if I have to work with you guys any longer, I'm going to lose my _mind_." And with that, Suzu whirled around and continued purposefully on, leaving behind a dumbstruck Taichi in her wake.

* * *

Yamato leveled his distasteful gaze at his music sheets as if they were a thing of evil, an incarnate of the devil itself. Was it possibly to hate a piece of paper more than Yamato hated the music sheets at that moment? He didn't think so.

_I knew that I should have practiced yesterday_, _I _knew _that I should have practiced yesterday, _Yamato reprimanded himself, the words quickly becoming a mantra in his head. _If I'd done that, then maybe I wouldn't be making such a big fool of myself now._

Yamato had been practicing his new music - a complex but interesting orchestral piece entitled 'Ghosts of Brandenburg' by one Richard Meyer - with the rest of the bass section since the morning session of class began. Unfortunately, they had failed to progress very far - and the blame for the lack of productivity fell nearly completely on Yamato's shoulders. He had lost count, by this point, of how many times his section leader had to stop everyone so that he could help Yamato fix his mistakes. Yamato had tried to take it all in stride at first. When it got to the point that the section couldn't even finish four measures at a time before Nobu had to stop everyone, though, Yamato couldn't help but feel disgusted and ashamed with himself.

Nobu, as a section leader, was the quiet type of guy, Yamato knew from his observations. Even though Nobu was a regular in Kosuke's group of musicians, he hadn't yet tried to antagonize Yamato purposely like so many of the other people in orchestra had. But still, it was easy to see that even Nobu's infinite patience was starting to wear thin.

"You played this entire sixteenth-note run flat," Nobu said slowly, pointing out the eight measures to Yamato. "These first four measures are the bass section's solo. We're the only ones playing in the orchestra at that time, and it's essential that we all sound good together. We must be unified in pitch and timing. If even one person is off, then the illusion that there is only one bassist playing is broken, and will also create a dragging sound. And since the first four measures are repeated again in the next four measures, if we aren't unified the second time, then our sound under the violins, violas, and cellos will also be disrupted, throwing everyone else off." Nobu paused. "You understand where I'm going with this?"

"Sorry." Yamato squeezed his bass pick tiredly in reflex as he hung his head. "I'll try and get it right the next time."

"Okay." Nobu returned to his string bass, hefting it up back into playing position. He raised his bow and tapped it on his stand to get the rest of the section's attention. "All right, guys, let's pick it up from measure twenty-three."

Yamato scanned his music and found the right measure, waiting on Nobu's count to begin playing with everyone else. When they started, Yamato tried to keep up with the tempo that Nobu had started the rest of the section on. He really did. But then he found himself trailing half a measure behind everyone else as he lost track of his counting as he spent his concentration on trying to play the notes all in tune. Nobu stopped everyone again, and this time, the rest of the bass section didn't bother to hide their mutters under their collective breaths as they waited for Nobu to attempt to help Yamato again. Yamato winced when he saw the first crack in Nobu's patience by his section leader's narrowed eyes and thinned lips.

"Is there a problem here?"

Internally, Yamato groaned, recognizing the speaker of the voice without even having to turn around. Trust Kosuke to conveniently pick the worst time to come by and check up on the bass sectionals. Yamato glanced longingly at the wall, his gaze settling on the clock. They only had forty-five minutes to go before it would have been time for lunch - so, _so_ close to freedom from this torture.

When Yamato dragged his eyes reluctantly from the time, the orchestra's concertmaster was standing nonchalantly in front of their section, his violin cradled carefully in the hold of his arms. Nobu flipped his long, black ponytail over his shoulder as he set down his string bass again and set his bow down on his music stand in order to step forward to speak with Kosuke more easily. "We're having difficulty progressing with the score with Yamato's current sight reading skills."

Kosuke glanced at Yamato with a carefully constructed smile on his face. "As expected. We learned that much from his audition didn't we?" Yamato ignored the snide remark and the subsequent laughter of the rest of his section at Kosuke's 'joke'. Kosuke turned back to Nobu when Yamato didn't reply. "What measures are giving you the most trouble with him?" he asked, sliding back into his role as concertmaster.

Nobu turned the music stand around so that Kosuke could take a closer look at the music. "I've circled them. The first three measures here, he has trouble getting in tune. This measure here - the sixteenth notes combined with the tuning. And pretty much this entire section here, from measure twenty-four on to about here," Nobu bracketed that part with his pencil and Kosuke traced the measures as Nobu explained them, "is just about impossible for him to play. We're still in the middle of working it out now."

Kosuke made tutting, disapproved sounds with his tongue as he continued to frown at the music. "And you haven't even gotten a quarter of the way through the song yet. What a pity, considering it's been more than a day since we first got 'Ghosts'." He looked up at Nobu and said the next words casually. "Would you mind if I took Yamato off your hands?"

Nobu frowned at Kosuke. After a moment, he said hesitatingly, "I don't quite follow you."

The concertmaster spread his hands, in a gesture that Yamato knew Kosuke meant to look magnanimous "It's clear to me that your section isn't going to be able to progress very far if you're handicapped by someone who has to have his hand held through the entire song." Kosuke paused here, as if anticipating a protest from Yamato of sorts, but Yamato made sure that none of his irritation showed on his face. Slightly disappointed by the lack of rise in Yamato's outward temper, Kosuke continued, "I'll take care of Yamato personally for you, give him some private tutoring instruction. That way, he'll get the specialized attention that he needs while you can actually help your section sound coordinated. It would be a win-win situation for all parties involved."

"Manami said for us to work in sectionals, though," Nobu replied, his frown only becoming more pronounced as he mulled over Kosuke's offer. Silently, Yamato felt grateful for Nobu's adherence to Manami's rules, hopeful that he could avoid a private 'tutoring' session with Kosuke. "I don't think she would let you take away Yamato like that -"

"But it's _my_ duty as concertmaster of the orchestra to ensure that we all work well together, and are at the same playing level in terms of skill," Kosuke returned smoothly. "I'm sure she wouldn't object, when she considers the benefits of this arrangement. The first violins are busy practicing right now, and they don't really require my help at the moment. And all of the other sections are working steadily through the song." Kosuke's face took on a sympathetic tinge that Yamato distrusted immediately, but it managed to lessen Nobu's frown. "Hate to break it to you, Nobu, but the bass section is far behind everyone else's progress. And really, for the sake of finishing this song on time, I think that you and I both know that it would be best if I took care of Yamato myself."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Nobu trailed off slowly. Yamato barely managed to keep his sudden apprehension from showing on his face when Kosuke nodded approvingly.

"Excellent. I'm glad that we've gotten that resolved." Kosuke smiled momentarily at Nobu before he turned to Yamato. He ordered brusquely, "Let's go to practice room four. It has a piano in there that we can use to work on your pitch."

Yamato hesitated for a moment, long enough to glance at Nobu who nodded slightly as if to say "You heard what he said", before Yamato sighed, conceding to his fate. He quickly gathered up his music and his instrument before he followed Kosuke's lead to the practice rooms. Kosuke opened the door to room four and gestured for Yamato to enter first.

"Go on in and start warming up. I'll go and inform Manami about what we're doing," Kosuke said archly, evidently expecting Yamato to follow his commands docilely, like most of the orchestra tended to do when they faced the concertmaster individually. When Yamato didn't move, however, Kosuke tsked disapprovingly. "No need to make this more difficult than it has to be. We don't have a lot of time left to work today." With no other choice offered to him, Yamato walked reluctantly inside, and Kosuke closed the door behind him soon after.

Yamato frowned to himself, troubled, as he sat down on one of the empty chairs and set his music on the stand next to it. He couldn't lie to himself and say that he wasn't the slightest bit apprehensive about this whole deal - especially when he couldn't figure out what, exactly, was Kosuke's angle. Kosuke's show of words outside with Nobu made Yamato wary, making him more than a little cautious about what would happen next. He doubted, though, that Kosuke was really going to help Yamato with his music. It was clear from the concertmaster's tone that he didn't regard Yamato as a musician worthy of his attention, let alone as an equal. No, Yamato decided. More likely than not, Kosuke would probably try an intimidation tactic of some sort.

Perhaps he was trying to speak to Yamato privately, in an effort to persuade Yamato into leaving the orchestra. Yamato considered it. He wouldn't put it past Kosuke, actually, to try something like that. Yamato knew that he was an interloper here in music class, having never participated in the orchestral scene before. He didn't know what the hell he was doing, or have any idea of what he was _supposed _to be doing. He was used to practicing when he felt like it and for as long (or, alternately, as short) as he wanted. But this attitude toward practicing seemed to rub some of the other musicians the wrong way, and they'd taken it personally. Unwittingly, Yamato had broken some secret code of orchestral conduct - but he couldn't even bring himself to ask Wakana or Susumu about it, since he had already relied on their help so much.

Yamato didn't want to impose on their generosity anymore than was necessary, and he wanted to prove to the others and to himself that he was capable of taking care of his own business. He just wasn't sure if he could pull it off at all.

Eventually, Yamato did his best to shrug off his heavy thoughts and turned his attention to retuning his bass again. He waited for Kosuke to return after he finished, glancing up at the clock as he did so. More than five minutes had passed since the concertmaster had initially left Yamato in the practice room. It heartened Yamato, gave him hope. Perhaps Kosuke had only wanted Yamato to get out of the way of the bass section in an effort to force Yamato to learn how to play the music on his own. Kosuke was probably hoping that, by isolating Yamato from the other bassists, it would become evident to Manami when the orchestra played together that Yamato was incapable of improving.

Well. Yamato definitely wasn't going to give Kosuke the slightest possibility of the satisfaction he would no doubt feel if Yamato made a fool of himself. If it meant that Yamato was going to have to learn the song by ear, as always, in order to bring up his performance skill to where Kosuke wanted it, then so be it. As long as Yamato worked hard enough to prove to Manami that Kosuke's insults were just empty words, it would be enough for him.

Yamato found his fingers naturally setting into position for the first measures of 'Ghosts of Brandenburg', and he closed his eyes as he began to hum softly to himself the tune that he remembered Nobu playing so carefully for Yamato earlier. As he hummed, Yamato's fingers moved of their own accord, working to match his voice. The timing was off as he played, true, but maybe if he could convince Koushiro to find and download for him just the bass' part in the song, it wouldn't take him long to master the piece. The thought of having his plan settled relaxed Yamato, eased the tension and frustration that had been building up in him all morning.

The door opened then, and Yamato stopped humming as Kosuke strode inside and closed the door. Unwillingly, Yamato put his bass down, wary again, as he took in Kosuke's face. It was set with a cool expression, revealing nothing of his thoughts or motives. "Now, to business," Kosuke spoke matter-of-factly as he approached the piano and Yamato. "Why exactly are you giving so much grief to Nobu over this? The score in itself is not all the difficult. 'Ghosts of Brandenburg.'" Kosuke said the name of the piece as if the title insulted him personally. "This kind of thing is reserved for the lower echelons of high school music." He raised an eyebrow at Yamato questioningly before saying loftily, "Surely a musician of _your _caliber should be able to breeze through this with ease."

"You know that I don't know how to read music well," Yamato replied, choosing to rise above and ignore Kosuke's barbed words. "Wakana only just taught me how to start reading earlier this week. Before then, I'd always learned songs by ear."

Kosuke nodded slowly, as if just realizing the fact. "Oh, that's right. I should have remembered. Your sight reading is rather atrocious." Before Yamato could open his mouth to shoot back a reply, Kosuke turned his attention to the Yamato's music sheet. He frowned, his eyes glancing quickly over the sections that Nobu had pointed out for him earlier. "Obviously, I will be hard-pressed to turn you into a competent musician - and by competent, I mean through judging from the real, classical standards." He paused, his eyes taking on a superior tint. "It is impossible for someone like you to be able to grasp the full intricacies of the music in less than a week - the nuances of the phrasing, the choice in dynamics, the proper technique to execute the notes - if you want to learn how to read at the same time."

"So what exactly do you propose that I do then, concertmaster?" Yamato interrupted coolly. His annoyance at Kosuke was building up with every word the concertmaster spoke to him, but he kept his facial expression under control. It would do no good if he allowed Kosuke to see his thoughts transparently.

"Quite simply, drilling," Kosuke replied in an equally aloof manner. "You're going to have to practice reading music until it's engrained in your mind. You have no choice but to practice playing until your fingers blister and bleed and make new calluses. It's essential that you build up the muscle memory of your fingers so that playing becomes as easy and as second-nature to you as breathing."

_"_And if I can't?" Yamato pretended to wonder.

Kosuke didn't smile. His eyes merely tightened as he looked back at Yamato. "You don't have a choice in the matter, Ishida. If you can't handle this, then you can say goodbye to ever having a real, professional career with the real musicians of the world. You'll be stuck with those common folk that you mingle with in the street and at indie competitions forever."

"Excuse me?" Yamato said, his eyebrows flying up with surprise. "There is _nothing _wrong with street music, regardless of how unpolished you may think it is." Yamato stopped, before he commented calculatedly, "I've met better musicians than you could ever aspire to be at those underground competitions that you look down on so much."

As he expected, Yamato's words struck a chord in Kosuke. His nose suddenly flared and his eyes narrowed, breaking the indifferent mask that he had put on in front of Yamato. For the first time that Yamato met Kosuke, Yamato saw the rage simmering under the surface of Kosuke's disdain. "How dare you?" Kosuke demanded of Yamato, the words escaping in the form of a hiss. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Yamato lifted his chin challengingly, allowing a small measure of amusement to come forth against Kosuke's obvious anger. "Your equal," Yamato returned. "You may have the training and the talent to set you apart from most musicians, but your arrogance and your bullying tactics toward other people level you down to the rest of us. No one respects you. Your so-called friends are only simple sycophants who want to feed off of your influence for their own good. And the rest of us? We see you for who you really are."

Kosuke's knuckles, which had been gripping the frog of his bow, had steadily turned white throughout Yamato's condemnation. Kosuke spoke heatedly after Yamato finished, "That may be so, but it doesn't change the facts. At the end of the day, _I_ am the concertmaster of this orchestra, the rightful leader of the musicians here, proven by my skills and abilities - and _you_ are a hindrance."

"There are others who would disagree."

"A very small minority would disagree. But really, why fight your label, Ishida? You know as well as I do that every mistake that you make will effect the rest of us negatively, ruining our overall unity of sound and impression as a team," Kosuke snapped. His eyes bored into Yamato's. "But do you know what the worst part of it all is? The very worst part is that you don't give a _damn_." His lips curled with disgust. "You don't give a damn that you're ruining us. For you, Ishida, this is just playtime. A chance for you to dip your toes into the water so that you can test things out to see if it suits you. But has it ever occurred to you that the rest of us – even Tanaka and Hotta – are here to work seriously? To make contacts for the future? We take our music seriously, because we all know that _this _is where our futures are headed."

Kosuke's words came rapidly now, the dam of restraint broken and the torrent of anger flooding unheeded outward. "Manami told me yesterday that, on the very last night of camp, we're supposed to create a performance that will showcase our two weeks of dedication. Scouts from professional symphonic orchestras from all over Tokyo and maybe even Kyoto will be here, watching us and critiquing us and figuring out which of us has the potential to advance in the music world. A major factor in their eventual decision rests on whether or not we all have the capability to work together and take our work seriously." He pointed an accusing finger at Yamato. "You will ruin everything for the rest of us, mark my words. You may think that you can hide in the middle of your section, and that you - on your own - will not make a difference. But you are wrong. You will drag down the rest of the bass section with you, leaving them floundering and the rest of us helpless. I'm sure that Nobu would not have neglected to inform you, but with a song like 'Ghosts of Brandenburg', every mistake that the basses make will be more than abundantly clear to the adjudicators who come to listen to us. And if that were to happen, then I doubt that even your friendships with Tanaka and Hotta could possibly survive the fallout."

Kosuke's words painted a dire picture that shook Yamato's confidence. His eyes searched Kosuke's vainly for some sort of sign that the concertmaster was simply over exaggerating, but there was nothing there to see except for disgust and frustration. Was he right? That even the slightest mistake that Yamato made would create such a chain of events that he would lose all of his new friends in one deadly stroke? Gazing back into Kosuke's eyes, Yamato found that he could not envision with certainty that he would be forgiven by Susumu, Seiichi, or Wakana if that scenario came true - and though he could not admit it to Kosuke directly, it scared Yamato. "I will practice, Kosuke, if that's what you're so determined to make me do. I'll get the music down in time for next Friday." Yamato swallowed. "I'm not such a bad friend that I would voluntarily threaten the futures of the orchestra members, as you're suggesting that I am – and I'm not as irresponsible or lazy as you think either."

"Don't make me laugh," Kosuke sneered. "If we were to go by your indie music band standards, perhaps you are hardworking enough to please the rest of your band mates. But here, in the orchestra? Merely practicing in class, during morning session, is not enough. Practicing for an hour during every other afternoon session isn't enough either. Don't delude yourself, Ishida. I myself attempt to practice for at least four hours a day – _outside_ of our class time. What makes you think that an hour is enough for _you_ to slide by?"

In the silence that ensued as Yamato digested Kosuke's words with difficulty, the lunch bell rang. Yamato raised his eyes. "I'll be back to practice as soon as I finish eating," Yamato said eventually, ignoring the uncomfortable, churning feeling in the pit of his stomach as he did so. "I - I promise."

"See that you do." And with that, it seemed as if Kosuke released his rage and slide back into his persona as the superior concertmaster. He swept out the door leisurely, nothing in his mannerisms betraying the fact that he had just moments earlier been reprimanding Yamato with anger. The door swung close behind him automatically, leaving Yamato alone to pack up his things slowly, having a hard time processing what just took place.

A short moment later, the door opened again and Wakana poked her head inside. "Yamato? You coming?" she asked cheerfully, unaware of Yamato's present state of mind. "Let's hurry; we don't want to be late again."

"Yeah." Yamato looked down at his things and ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. "I'll be right there."

* * *

Sora burst out laughing, unable to stifle her reaction. "You cannot be serious!" she managed to gasp as she tried desperately to take deep breaths in order to calm down.

Paul rolled his eyes in amusement before he answered. "Trust me, they're dead serious. I was there; I witnessed it with my own eyes," he promised, and Sora only broke down into laughter some more at his response.

"Sure, just keep laughing at my expense," Linda – Paul's sister – huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. It was clear to Sora, however, that Linda didn't really feel offended at all; her lips kept twitching up into a smile, and her tone was definitely too light to be mistaken for true anger. "Some brother you are!" Linda shoved at Paul's shoulder roughly, and though his larger frame should have made her pushes against him ineffectual, he was taken by surprise and yelped as he tumbled unexpectedly into the grass.

"So what did you do after that?" Sora asked Linda eagerly, ignoring Paul for the moment as he got up again, grumbling.

"Oh, I turned all red in the face and started stuttering like an idiot before I made my stumbled getaway," Linda answered casually, waving her hands in the air to emphasize her moment of embarrassment. "I mean, what other option did I have? I was just rejected by my crush! I'm surprised that I could still think straight, or at least well enough to run away before I lost more of my dignity," Linda added thoughtfully.

Yuu grinned, enjoying the tale as much as Sora - probably more, she thought wryly, knowing him. He leaned over the picnic table to pinch Linda's cheek fondly. "No worries, Linda dear. At least you can rest assured that you will always remain in my memory as my favorite girl ever to reject for a date."

Linda groaned, rolling her eyes at Sora. "Yuu! How is that supposed to console me? I'm the _only_ girl you ever rejected for a date - because you're gay!"

Sora couldn't help but laugh aloud again. There was a part of her that sympathized with Linda and felt horrible about the other girl's mortification – but the other, larger part of Sora still found the scenario immensely entertaining. "How could you face to see him after that?" she asked Linda.

"I couldn't," Linda said with a casual shrug. She twined her hair around her finger idly as she spoke. "It was just way too embarrassing. I wanted to throw a paper bag over my head, so that he couldn't see how red my face turned every time I ran into him."

"And she turned red, let me tell you," Yuu interjected, nodding in perfect agreement.

Linda kicked him under the table swiftly, and while Yuu clutched at his leg in agony, Linda continued with her story, much to Sora's entertainment. "But I had a difficult time avoiding him. We were classmates at school, and Paul constantly invited Yuu over to work on their art projects together – knowing fully well that I got rejected by him, seeing as how my lovely brother was there and everything." Linda glared at Paul, who winked at Sora. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stop her giggles, deciding that Linda probably wouldn't appreciate Sora laughing again. "But after a while, I got used to Yuu again. And I got over it."

"It helped when I dyed my hair bright blue," Yuu added, turning and tugging at his hair in emphasis for Sora's benefit. "Linda totally hated it. She prefers her guys' hair colors to be _au naturale_."

Linda rolled her eyes. "You say that like it's a _bad_ thing," she shot back at Yuu. "Why do guys like crazy looking hair anyway? Are you deluding yourselves into thinking that it actually looks good?"

"Honey, it's called _advent garde_. It's all about dramatic art these days," Yuu disregarded Linda's comment with a wave of his hand. "You claim that you're a liberal American artist, so I'd think that you at least had an open mind about stuff like personal expression!"

Paul leaned over the table to whisper to Sora's as Yuu and Linda continued to bicker, "You see what I've had to put up with this past year after moving to Tokyo? Once these two get started, they never stop until they run out of air completely."

Sora grinned back at Paul. "It's too bad that Yuu isn't straight," she whispered back. "They'd make a good couple otherwise; they feed off of each other's energy so well. I can picture them together fairly easily."

"Please. I'd lose my sanity if the two of them ever started dating. Then this," Paul gestured to the air between his sister and his best friend, "would be even worse. They'd be making out whenever they weren't arguing, and there's only so much that I can put up with before I reach the limit of my patience."

"You have a point there." Sora laughed again and listened to Linda and Yuu's argument for a moment longer before she looked up at the sky. "Almost sunset. The sky's so pretty when it's red and pink like this in the mountains."

"Not bad," Paul agreed, taking his eyes off of the soccer game going on before glancing up at the sky and then looking across the table at Sora again. "How come you're not playing soccer with your friends today? You were pretty good out there yesterday. I have to admit, it made me surprised when you told us about how you stopped playing soccer so that you could play tennis." He smiled at her. "Makes me curious to see how good you are, exactly, at tennis."

"Thanks." Sora smiled back, pleased at Paul's compliment. "I was thinking of playing earlier, but I decided against it. I just don't feel like playing today, that's all. Plus, I got enough bruises yesterday to last me a while before I feel like voluntarily playing again." She stuck out one leg to the side of the table for Paul to see. She had small, purple bruises on her shin and a particularly nasty blue-purple hybrid that had blossomed on her knee. "See what I mean? When I play, I get so completely caught up in the game that I don't notice injuries like this until I'm limping off the field afterward."

"Gotcha." Paul began to say something when he stopped, changing his mind. "Sora?"

"Hmm?" she said absentmindedly as she poked at one of her bruises experimentally.

"What's your friend's name again? The one with dark brown hair, that's about this long." Sora looked up and Paul indicated to the area just below his shoulders. "Kiku, right?"

Sora tilted her head questioningly and raised an eyebrow at Paul. "Yes, that's right. What's up?"

"Oh, she's been sneaking looks and staring at me for the past few minutes now. When she thinks I'm not looking or something. It's getting kind of uncomfortable," Paul joked. He didn't look like it was really bothering him at all, but Sora was taken by surprise and whirled around, searching immediately for Kiku. "Do you think that maybe she likes me?" Paul continued.

"'Infatuated' is actually closer to the truth," Sora replied distractedly as she searched for Kiku. She eventually found Kiku in the middle of the soccer game's spectator crowd. When Sora met Kiku's gaze, the other girl's cheeks flamed bright pink before turning around hastily to return her focus to the soccer game. Sora sighed as she swiveled in her seat back to the table. "She thinks you're just about the most gorgeous guy she's ever seen before, Paul." Sora's lips twitched as she suppressed a smile at Paul's taken-aback expression.

"Now where have we heard _that_ before?" Linda interjected as her bantering with Yuu winded down. She rested her chin on the palm of her hand, elbow against the table, as she looked over to Sora. "Paul's had to turn down more girls here in Japan than Yuu has, for sure."

Paul shrugged easily, regaining his equilibrium. "It's not my fault. Of course more girls would be attracted to me than Yuu. I'm actually straight."

Yuu sniggered. "Oh darn. There goes my evil plan, down the drain. And I'd thought we'd been making progress, too."

"Yuu!" Sora could help but say in an outburst, shocked.

Linda giggled, and Sora glanced at Linda, confused. "You should have seen the look on your face, Sora! It was priceless." Linda smiled good-naturedly. "Don't worry, Paul's going to stay straight as an arrow, if only because there's no way that Paul can have Yuu if _I _couldn't."

"How selfish of you," Paul said disapprovingly, reaching over to pull Linda into a noogie. She shrieked as he mussed up her hair completely, and Yuu burst out laughing at the siblings' antics. Sora smiled hesitantly, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as Paul released Linda and she started to slap him in retaliation.

"Uh, Sora?"

"Hayate!" Sora stood up from her seat, happy to see him even if he looked unnerved by the artists that Sora was keeping company with. "Hey there. What's up?"

The lanky boy pushed a nervous hand through his dark hair, managing a brief, self-conscious flicker of a smile. "Hey Sora. Do you remember where the music cabin is?"

"Sure," Sora said. She half turned to her right to indicate the path to the music cabin for Hayate. "It's down that way. About halfway down the hill, take the path on the right and follow it until you reach the last cabin. You got that?" Hayate nodded, and Sora paused a moment before asking, "Why are you looking for the music room, Hayate?"

"Well, it's almost time for dinner," Hayate said, shifting uneasily from one foot to another as he glanced at the small audience behind Sora. He returned his gaze back to Sora and continued to explain haltingly, "Taichi asked me to go get Yamato from the music room, since Taichi, Kohei, Koushiro, and Kiku are busy with the soccer game and Wakana's in the girl's cabin, still practicing her cello. He figured since I'm the only person not really doing anything, then I should -" He stopped, seeing the frown slowly forming on Sora's face and thinking that she was scowling at him. He winced and stammered, "S - Sora?"

"Taichi's using you as a messenger boy?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips in indignation. "Why can't he go get Yamato himself?"

"W - well, like I said earlier, he's busy with the game, and he figured that since I was only watching, I could –"

"Yagami, you are _such _an arrogant pig," Sora cursed her brown-haired best friend under her breath angrily. Cutting off Hayate, Sora raised her voice slightly to say to him, "You know what, Hayate? You go back and watch the game. I'll go and get Yamato for you." She began to turn around when she remembered to add nastily, "And if Taichi asks you what you're still doing watching the game, tell him that _I'll _be back in a few minutes with Yamato by my side _and_ a verbal lashing for him. Got that?"

Hayate looked taken aback, but nodded furiously as he backed away. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Ah, whatever you say, Sora."

"Great. See you later." She flashed a smile kindly at Hayate before turning back to Paul, Linda, and Yuu, who were all looking at her with amusement. "I'll see you guys at dinner, all right?" she said, making it more than evident that they really had no choice but to agree with her plan.

"Get to it, Wonder Woman," Paul teased, saluting her with his hand. Linda and Yuu both nodded enthusiastically. "We'll save you a spot at our table again."

"Thanks." Sora waved to them before walking determinedly to the music cabin - all the while figuring out what, exactly, she should say to Taichi when she gave him a piece of her mind.

* * *

Hayate jogged quickly back to the impromptu soccer field, weaving through the crowd of spectators in order to slip back into his spot on the grass next to Kiku. She glanced up at him as Hayate sat down, crossing his legs neatly. "Well? How'd it go?" Kiku asked eagerly, her attention rapt on him.

The computer boy smiled broadly back at her. "Sora believed me one hundred percent. All according to your guys' plan."

"Awesome! Taichi will be, like, so thrilled to hear it." Kiku clapped her hands together, rubbing them vigorously in excitement. "This matchmaking thing is so much fun!" Hayate was about to agree reluctantly that it really was when he paused, remembering Sora's parting words. Kiku saw the look on his face after a moment and gazed at him questioningly. "Hayate? What is it?"

Hayate's brows knitted together in consternation. "Sora said to tell Taichi that she'll give him a 'verbal lashing' when she gets back for making me his messenger boy." He winced. "She looked really angry."

Kiku considered Hayate's information for a moment before she shrugged, accepting it. "Well, it was Taichi's idea. He'll take the consequences for it. There's not much else the rest of us can do about it, since we can't exactly change the story that we gave Sora..." She trailed off, lost in thought, before she turned her attention back to the game. Immediately, she began gushing, "While you were gone, Hayate, Kohei's team made this, like, super-humanly _incredible_ goal."

Hayate nodded as Kiku rapidly took him up to speed, wondering in the back of his mind if Taichi's little plan would have the intended effect that the soccer player had hoped for.

* * *

Sora cautiously opened the door into the music cabin, poking her head inside as she did so. The main room appeared to be completely empty, but she heard the muted cacophony of a multitude of different melodies playing at the same time from the private practice rooms' area. Sora stepped closer inside, closing the door behind her gently. The door to Manami's office was closed, but she could see the rays of light shining out from the crack underneath the door. The music teacher was probably still inside, then.

Sora hesitated, unsure of what she should do next. Obviously, she had to find Yamato - but how? She didn't think that she'd be able to figure out which practice room Yamato was using on her own, since Sora didn't know how to tell apart the sounds of different instruments by ear alone. She could hardly just open every door randomly; it would be rude to interrupt someone's practice, as she knew from her own personal experience on the tennis courts. And asking Manami for help was out of the question - Sora doubted if the music teacher even remembered who Sora was, in addition to the fact that Sora didn't want to interrupt the Manami if she was busy with work of some kind either

She huffed impatiently. What should she do now?

Just as Sora considered fishing out her Digivice in order to text Yamato (though she wasn't sure if he'd even brought it with him to practice), her dilemma was solved for her when one of the practice room doors opened. A boy with neat brown hair emerged, holding what looked like a violin (she really couldn't tell the difference between violins and violas to save her life) in one hand and a satisfied expression on his face. Sora sighed gratefully, and stepped forward. "Excuse me," she said politely in order to get his attention.

He raised his eyes to her and cocked an eyebrow as she approached. "You look familiar," he remarked after a moment, studying her face intently. "Weren't you here the other day…?"

"Yes! I was visiting this class for the exploratory track at camp," Sora supplied, "but I figured out fairly quickly that music wasn't for me." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "Everyone played so beautifully at the auditions. There was no way that I could possibly hope to fit in with so much talent."

The boy smiled reflexively at Sora's words. "Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed listening to us all play. God knows that we practice day and night for compliments like that." He held out his hand politely. "I'm Ito Kosuke, concertmaster of the orchestra, by the way."

"Takenouchi Sora," she answered, taking his hand and shaking it. _Kosuke... _Sora thought. She tried to remember if Wakana or Yamato had mentioned his name before, but even though she had a feeling that they _had_, it wasn't coming back to her in any form.

"Sora," Kosuke repeated, closing his eyes as he tried to remember if he'd heard her name before. Then his eyes opened with surprise. "You sat with Tanaka, Ishida, and Hotta on audition day, didn't you?" Sora nodded, and Kosuke considered Sora for a moment, his expression going inexplicably blank. "I suppose you're here to find Ishida now?" he asked after a moment when Sora didn't add anything else to her answer.

"Yes, exactly." Sora rubbed the back of her neck, slightly embarrassed at her, in retrospect, foolish predicament when she first walked in the room. "But I was stuck, earlier. I was trying to figure out how to find him without accidentally opening the door to someone else's practice session. I don't think it would have been a good idea to interrupt someone - I know that you guys are very focused when you practice."

Kosuke smiled again, albeit more unwillingly this time. "That's true. We musicians can be very snappy if our practice gets interrupted, no matter how unintentional it may have been."

Sora smiled, glad that he understood. "I was in the middle of debating whether to ask Manami for help when you walked out. Do you happen to know which room he's in?"

Kosuke nodded slowly, turning slightly and pointing to a door at the far end of the corridor. "Ishida's always in room eight, when Tanaka's not here to practice with him. When they're here together, or with Susumu, they usually move to room three, since it's larger and has a piano." He stopped before adding in afterthought, "Ishida'll probably be happy to see you. He's been practicing for nonstop for a couple of hours, now, and will probably welcome an opportunity for a break." He glanced at the clock on the wall before turning his gaze back to Sora. "Excuse me, I need to be packing up my things," he said, gesturing to his instrument.

"Oh, of course! Sorry, I didn't mean to keep you from packing up. Thanks for your help, Kosuke," Sora said warmly, sidestepping him as she began to walk to Yamato's practice room. "I guess I'll see you around?"

"Sure." Kosuke nodded one last time before he headed toward the shelves on the far wall.

Sora entered the practice room area, scanning the doors as she walked. "Room eight," she repeated to herself, "room eight." Sora glanced up at the numbers affixed to each door in bronze numbering and stopped before the door with a large, marked '08' just above eye-level. She knocked on the door so that he could hear her and called out quietly, "Yamato? Are you in there?"

The music inside stopped abruptly, and, a few moments later, the door opened. Yamato appeared inside, looking apprehensive and weary. When he saw that it was Sora who was standing there, however, he straightened up, his eyes immediately becoming more alert as he focused them on her face. "Sora? What are you doing here?" he asked, puzzled.

"It's almost time for dinner," she explained, gesturing to the clock that she saw inside. Yamato turned around and gave a start. Sora continued, "I figured that I'd come and get you, since you were probably too engrossed in your practice to notice the time." She left out the part of the story that involved Taichi forcing poor Hayate to do the deed. Yamato would get to witness that in a few minutes anyway.

"Thanks," Yamato said, the surprise faintly evident in his voice as he stepped back so that Sora could come briefly inside too. "Sorry, I just had a lot of work to do," he explained haltingly when Sora's eyes widened as she took in the disorganized mess in the practice room.

There were several papers scattered over the floor. Some of the papers on the floor were crumpled into balls, as Yamato had missed in his aim when he tried to throw them into the small wastebasket in the corner. "Yamato, what were you _doing_?" Sora couldn't help but ask, amazed, as she stooped down instinctively to pick some of the papers up to help him clean.

He came down on his knees next to her and hastily took the papers out of her hand, as if embarrassed that she was picking up after him. Sora raised an eyebrow at him, amused. "Don't worry about it, Sora, I've got it," he said as he attempted to pick up the rest of the papers on the ground. He stopped short when he turned and saw that Sora had already gathered them all into a neat pile. "Thanks," Yamato repeated, taking them from her.

"No problem." Sora looked at Yamato carefully, who had risen and was starting to pack up the rest of his things at that point. He was acting a bit strangely, Sora decided – distracted and flustered, almost. Definitely not the usual Yamato-like characteristics that he usually displayed. She wondered what it was that had managed to get Yamato so worked up. "Yamato?" she asked hesitantly, standing up behind him. But he didn't answer, still too engrossed in putting his things away, and Sora decided to just leave it alone for the moment. He would speak his mind when he felt like it, no sooner or later than that.

The dinner bell rang just throughout the camp grounds when Yamato finally turned around. He smiled at Sora tiredly as he slung his bass case over his shoulder. "Let's get going. If we're late, we might worry Taichi and Koushiro again," he teased. Yamato opened the door for Sora and they walked out together. None of the other musicians had stirred from their individual practice rooms yet, so Yamato only slowed to say goodbye briefly to Manami in her office - Sora made a note to herself that Manami didn't particularly care if she was being interrupted or not - before they had walked outside to the cool air.

They had walked a short distance when Yamato asked her, "How was your day, Sora? I haven't been able to talk to you much since you've started hanging out with your art friends. Having fun?"

"Yeah, I guess. Things are going pretty good," Sora replied, sticking her hands in her short's pockets. "Paul – the American guy, remember? – has been teaching me how to paint with watercolors. He's an amazing artist and a really great teacher too. Thanks to him, I'm about halfway done with my picture now."

"What are you painting a watercolor of?"

"It's an arrangement of flowers." Sora smiled slightly as she envisioned it in her mind. "I thought that maybe I'd give it to my mom, when I was done. Or maybe my dad, so that he could have something to put in his office at the university. He's been complaining for a while now that he needs to decorate it since it's so plain. But he doesn't really have a lot of free time nowadays to actually go out and look for things to decorate it with. So I think he'd appreciate it a lot."

"That sounds like a good idea." Yamato yawned, stretching his arms high above his head as he did so.

Sora grinned. "Isn't it kind of early to be yawning like that, Yamato?"

He yawned again but smiled tiredly down at her. "Sorry. I'm just really, really tired. It's been a long day."

"Your music has been giving you a hard time?" Sora probed cautiously, not wanting to pry too much.

"My music, yeah, and a few people in the orchestra with me too." Yamato sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know why I bother, honestly… Orchestra's not turning out to be the way I had thought it'd be like at all. I feel almost like I'm being cheated out of something."

"Don't give up," Sora replied automatically, frowning. Without thinking, she reached out to brush her fingers against his elbow. "You love music. Things are tough now, like you said, but just hang in there. I'm sure that in a few days, things will work themselves out again."

Yamato laughed quietly. "I hope so." He paused before reaching out to wrap one arm around her shoulders, squeezing it for a moment as they walked up the steps to the dining hall. "Thanks, Sora. Coming from you, that means a lot."

Sora's cheeks heated, making her glad that he probably couldn't see her that well in the dark, as Yamato dropped his arm and opened the door to the hall. "You're welcome," she said, before taking him by the wrist and pulling him inside with her. "Anytime."


	8. A Taste of Trouble

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
**Author's Notes: **So this chapter ended up being twice as long as I had originally planned... though I'm sure that none of you will complain about the fact. And despite the extra length, I think this may be my fastest update yet. So remember to leave a review to express your gratitude, hehe. Enjoy!

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter VIII: A Taste of Trouble_

* * *

As Wakana walked with Yamato up the steps to the music room Monday morning, Yamato half turned to face her. "Wakana, are you still not going to tell me what happened on Friday?" he asked again, a touch hopefully.

Wakana smiled and shook her head. "Nope. Not in your dreams," she replied in a sing-song voice, bounding past him to go through the door. "Just give up already, Yamato. You're smart. You should have figured out by now that if no one has told you yet, that means that no one plans to in the future either."

He groaned. "Now I know how Koushiro feels when he can't find the answers to his problems on Google." Yamato raised his gaze to the music room's ceiling. "I suppose I should just give up, then, before the curiosity drives me to insanity."

"That would be a good idea, yeah," Wakana agreed, saluting Yamato before heading over to the cello wall. She nodded her hellos to the rest of the section as she took her cello out, and Wakana smiled to herself, remembering what had happened on Friday afternoon.

Only Hayate and Sora's other friends had actually witnessed with their own eyes Sora's reaction to the revelation that Taichi had 'used' Hayate as a messenger boy. However, when Wakana came to meet everyone for dinner in the dining hall after she finished practicing her cello for the day, Kiku had promptly filled Wakana in on all the details, supplemented with Hayate's own commentary. None of the people involved with this particular plan to get Yamato and Sora together had predicted that Sora would have reacted in such a way, but since it was really only Taichi's behind who was on the line, they all found the situation rather hilarious. Thus, it was with great anticipation that everyone at their table (aside from Taichi, who was understandably nervous) waited for Sora and Yamato's arrival.

Those who were in the know about the plot to get Sora and Yamato back together were curious to see if the time alone together had any effect on them, of course. But to be honest, everyone was really just curious to see if Sora would make good on her promise to give Taichi, as Hayate quoted, a "verbal lashing".

Sora didn't let them down. The group - and a few people sitting at the surrounding tables, as well - had watched Sora scold Taichi heatedly about his arrogance, inflated ego, and mistreatment of others with great amusement. The scene in and of itself was already strange enough: Sora was usually so calm and friendly, so it was bizarre to see Taichi - who was quite a bit taller than Sora, too - look so cowed under Sora's disapproving gaze. Added to this was the knowledge that Taichi hadn't really done anything to deserve the lecture in the first place. So Wakana, Kiku, Koushiro, and Hayate couldn't _really_ be blamed for the fact that they all had a difficult time trying to keep a straight face.

Unfortunately, even though Yamato was completely bewildered about why Sora was getting so distressed over what Taichi had done, he was still perceptive enough to: a, figure out that something was underfoot, with the way everyone else had reacted to Sora's lecture, and b, that his friends were the culprits behind it. Hence, all of the questions that he had continually posed to Wakana at various times over the weekend. She guessed that Yamato had hoped that he could catch her at an inopportune time and that the truth would slip out from her before she realized what she was saying.

Luckily for Wakana - and for the all the others, as well - she hadn't messed up. Yet.

"Hey, Wakana!" Takumi, the fifth chair cellist who sat behind her in the orchestra, greeted. Wakana blinked, jolted from her train of thought. "How was your weekend? I didn't catch you in here at all. Did you go back to the city with your friends?"

Wakana smiled back at him as she set her cello down next to her chair. "My weekend was good, thanks. I just hung out with my friends here, since I didn't get to see them so much during the week. All our practicing, you know," she explained with a wave of her hand, and Takumi nodded sympathetically. "But yeah, my friends and I just wandered around the camp grounds a lot. And when some of them went to head back into the city, I stayed here and practiced with Yamato and Susumu. What about you?"

"It was pretty good; my friends all went back into the city to go hang out." Takumi changed the subject again, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly. "Hey, what did you think of Counselor Ran's announcement at breakfast? That we were going to put on a finale show on Friday to showcase all the classes' work? Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?"

"Very," Wakana agreed. "So now we know that we'll actually get to perform 'Ghosts' for everyone else at camp to listen to. D'you think that Ran's going to invite people from outside of camp to listen too? Or will it just be us students?"

"She'll probably invite people from outside of camp, like family members and friends," Takumi guessed.

He scratched his head and began to add something else when Kayo, the cello section leader, walked by them. She shot them a glare that clearly said 'Enough talking, now get down to business', which really left Wakana and Takumi no choice but to abandon their conversation for the moment. They exchanged a glance with each other, shrugged, and continued on setting up their positions for practice. Wakana sighed, shaking her head.

_I miss the weekend already_, Wakana thought wistfully, _when we could just take things easy instead of working so hard._ Wakana looked around at everyone else in the orchestra, noticing how they were all hurrying to set up their things, all ready to get down to business. As much as she enjoyed orchestra, it had been so nice to have some free time to spend with her new circle of friends. Laziness was suddenly a luxury that they couldn't indulge enough in.

Not to say that they didn't remain productive, though, during the weekend. As far as Wakana knew, Koushiro had managed to finish working out all the bugs in his computer program before he and Taichi went to go and visit some place called 'File Island' (Wakana assumed that it was code for some kind of inside joke to Taichi, Yamato, Sora, and Koushiro) to get some urgent work. Sora, too, had been busy; she had gone with her friends from art class to go and visit the Nezu Art Museum and the New Otani Art Museum to get some inspiration for their next art projects.

This development had effectively dashed Kiku's hopes of being able to ogle Paul - she still adamantly referred to him as the Greek God, though - some more, but true to form, it didn't take long for Kiku to find something else to occupy her time with. It appeared to Wakana that Kiku and Kohei had recently taken a liking to Hayate and were attempting to help him gain some self-confidence. With everyone else otherwise preoccupied, Yamato, Wakana, and Susumu really had nothing else to do but practice their music some more, as she had told Takumi.

Now, though, it was time for Wakana to focus. Everyone was busy tuning their instruments, getting ready to practice for the day with the rest of the orchestra after a weekend off to relax. Wakana sat down at her seat and tuned her cello extra carefully, making sure to match her pitch to Susumu's resounding A note from the piano. She couldn't risk being out of tune even the slightest bit today. After she fine-tuned the rest of her strings, Wakana turned around in her seat to check on the rest of the cello section. "How are you guys doing?" she asked politely. "Done tuning yet?"

"I'm almost done," Takumi replied first. "I forgot, what are we doing today? Are we working in sectionals again?"

"No," Kayo said briskly, somehow overhearing their conversation and interjecting in. "We're working with the whole orchestra today. Manami's going to be conducting." She swept her short, bobbed, orange hair out of her eyes. "I hope you guys have all been practicing hard over the weekend," she said, the warning clear in her voice as she spoke. "When we play, the first section to get called out on for mistakes by Manami or Kosuke had better not be us. Got it?"

Wakana nodded tightly, her fingers methodically tightening her bow so that the hairs would be taut enough to allow for some bounce when she played. To be honest, Wakana didn't like how Kayo was starting to pick up on Kosuke's annoying habit of talking down to them with implied insults embedded in every sentence. "Don't worry, Kayo," Wakana replied dryly. "We won't make a fool out of you."

"You'd better not," Kayo answered swiftly, choosing to overlook Wakana's sarcasm. "We have that tricky section around the middle of the first page, where we have the sixteenth note runs, and I know that not everyone can get it." She said the words condescendingly, and they were dripping with such acid as Kayo looked pointedly at the back row of cellists that said cellists all slouched down noticeably in their seats. Kayo continued, "Hopefully, we'll be able to make it through those particular measures in one piece. Then, Manami will let us break up into individual practice before she lets us audition for the cello solo in the second movement."

Kayo's black eyes flashed toward each of the cellists in the section, not even bothering to conceal the open challenge she had in them. "Of course, I don't have anything to worry about, right? As section leader, it's fairly obvious that the solo will go to me. So there's really no point for the rest of you to audition at all."

Wakana exchanged a glance with Takumi behind her, barely managing to refrain from rolling her eyes in exasperation. Sometimes, dealing with Kayo (who was really just Kosuke's cellist minion, now that she thought about it) was more than Wakana could stand. "Actually," Wakana said coolly, drawing Kayo's gaze to her, "I was thinking of trying out for it too. It couldn't hurt. Besides, Manami _did _say that anyone could try out for the solo, regardless of our seating rank."

If Kayo's answering glare could kill, Wakana would have been dead on the spot. Both girls held each other's gaze for a long moment, with the other cellists shifting uneasily, before Kayo broke eye contact first. The fact gave Wakana a small measure of pleasure. "Is everyone done tuning?" Kayo demanded icily, looking over Wakana to survey the rest of the section. "We don't have all day, you know. We need to get some work done!" As they quickly brought themselves back to the task at hand, Kayo looked over Wakana with disdain. "Is that how you sit with your cello when you practice?" she demanded. "Sit up straight! And don't press your cello against your side like that either, do it like _this_."

When Manami finally called the orchestra's attention in order to commence practice, Wakana had already turned a deaf ear to Kayo's continuous stream of critiques about Wakana's incorrect fingering and bad posture - nitpicky things that really didn't do much more than annoy Wakana even further. None of the other section musicians overheard Kayo's belittlement of Wakana, but the cellists who sat in between the two girls only watched on in appalled silence at the way their section leader was behaving when she should have been listening to Manami's instructions.

Again, Wakana had the realization that orchestra could be so very tiresome, what with having to deal with people like Kayo all the time. Like all of Kosuke's other lackeys, Kayo was extremely talented. But the whole act that she had going on, that she was superior to everyone else, was quickly becoming old. Wakana almost wished that she was dealing with Kosuke instead. At least his arrogance was somewhat understandable; no one could doubt his natural-born talent with the violin. But Kayo was really only marginally better than the second-chair cellist herself. It was almost as if Kayo believed that, by acting as conceited as Kosuke, she hoped to become as talented as him too.

Fortunately, Wakana was saved from having to endure more of Kayo's snide comments when Manami made them play from the beginning again. Wakana noticed that Yamato and the bass section had managed to escape scrutiny so far - so all of that practice that Yamato had done over the weekend definitely paid off. Nobu looked pleased as well by this fact, especially when considering that the basses had been able to escape the mortification of being the first group forced to play by themselves in front of the rest of the orchestra. That would have been too much for his pride to handle.

That infamous dishonor ended up falling on the second violins. Already, they had been called on by Manami more than any other section to hammer out the details of their parts, and the second violinist section leader - Wakana couldn't recall his name at the moment - looked as if he wanted nothing more than to fade into the background. And Kosuke looked... well, like Kosuke. There was no other description for it. He sneered at the second violinists with a look of perverse delight on his face, apparently reveling in their failure.

Wakana frowned at him, disgusted at his lack of musicianship. He could at least attempt to look sorry for them. Even his usual indifference would have been better than the obvious pleasure he felt in the second violins' shortcomings.

From across the room, Wakana caught Susumu's gaze. He looked deliberately between Kosuke and her before mouthing slowly, "Relax. It's not worth it."

She sighed heavily and closed her eyes tightly for a moment, frustrated. But she knew that Susumu was right. All Wakana had to do - all she _could _do - was focus on her music. There was nothing she could do to change Kosuke, short of getting him a personality transplant with some far nicer than he. And for the moment, she had to be satisfied with just that.

As long as she managed to keep in mind that there were people like Susumu and Yamato and Seiichi and Takumi in the orchestra with her, she would be able to pull through this camp ordeal, hopefully emerging with the knowledge that she could handle music as a major at the university.

She could only hope that would be the case, anyway.

The rest of the full orchestra practice session passed by quickly. When at last the group wrapped up 'Ghosts of Brandenburg' for the day and Manami dismissed them for individual practice so that she could talk to Kosuke privately in her office, Kayo had wordlessly shot Wakana one last parting glare before heading toward one of the private practice rooms so that she could rehearse her solo in peace. Wakana was only too happy to watch her section leader go. The elation of being freed from the presence of her section leader was short-lived however, since there was no time to waste. Instead, Wakana took up her cello and carefully made her way over to the grand piano.

Susumu was already busy doing finger exercises and practicing the music for his private recital that would take place the next month when Wakana arrived. As it had happened, Susumu was, in practice, a one-man section (the other pianists who had failed to take the sole position of pianist had been relegated to playing the xylophones and chimes); therefore, he already had his music completely mastered. It was a benefit of the fact that he didn't have to waste time trying to coordinate his playing speed to anyone else's.

He looked up from his music when he saw Wakana approach and smiled at her though his fingers did not miss a single beat, continuing up and down the length of the keys at a lightening fast speed that made Wakana dizzy to look at. "Hello," he said cheerfully.

"Hey yourself." Wakana set her cello down on the ground as she hunted for a spare stand and chair. She pulled them both over. "How are you doing?"

Susumu's grin widened. "Fine, and you?" he said as he watched her prep her stand right next to him.

"All right, now that practice is over. I thought it would never end," Wakana complained with a regretful sigh. "You're so lucky that the rest of your section is on the other side of the room. That way, if they decide that they don't like you, at least they can't bother you during practice."

"True, true." Susumu nodded in easy acknowledgement. He glanced at the music Wakana intended to play. "Oh, ho. Want to practice 'Ghosts' again, do you?"

"Yes," Wakana affirmed as she sat down, reaching to pull her cello up against her. "For my solo. One last time, before Manami comes back and the auditions start."

"All right." Susumu poised his hands over the keys, not even bothering to take out his music sheet again for the song. Typically, he had already memorized the song easily after having practiced it so many times over the weekend. "Whenever you're ready. Just give me a count," he told her.

Wakana nodded wordlessly, her eyes running over the notes on the page one last time. She adjusted her cello comfortably against her and raised her hand to poise her bow over the strings. She began to imagine the tempo of the music, tapping her foot against the ground for a solid counting start. "One and two and three and four and."

Susumu began played the piano accompaniment solo in the opening measures of the solo with Wakana. After about three measures in, the piano faded out in its music and Wakana began to play in a swell of crescendo, overtaking the melody line. She took great care to follow the fingering of the piece, and made sure to really make good use of her vibratos to give her tone a richer, fuller sound. When she began to reach the section of her music that required her to switch playing positions in order to reach the higher notes, however, Wakana's confidence shook and her playing took a noticeable turn downhill.

Susumu stopped playing when Wakana groaned and slumped in her seat. "Having trouble again?" he asked sympathetically when Wakana straightened again.

"I just don't understand," Wakana griped, feeling as if she wanted to pull her hair out. "We played this entire part note by note on Friday so that I could hear how to match the pitch. I practiced all weekend on getting the fingering. But I just can't piece it _together_." She groaned. "This is impossible!"

"Let's just try it again, from about three measures before to give you a lead-in," Susumu said soothingly, trying to get her to calm down. "Come on, you can do it."

Wakana heaved a reluctant sigh, but the thought that her audition would start in only a few more minutes led her to obediently shift her cello up again to give it another go. It still felt as if she couldn't reach the notes quickly enough to accommodate all the shifting in the song, but she stuck to it anyway. She refused to give in to the music just yet, not when there was still some fight left in her to pound her way through it.

After they had practiced a bit longer and the bass section finished recapping what they needed to learn, Yamato joined them, his bass in hand and a tired smile on his face. "Hey guys," he said, nodding his head at Susumu as he pulled over a chair. Susumu gave a greeting in return and Wakana gave a brief wave before bending over her music again. "Your solo preparations aren't going well?" Yamato asked Wakana, leaning over slightly to see what she was working on.

"Ugh. Not at all." Wakana frowned at the music sheet, absentmindedly picking up her pencil and circling the dynamics on one portion of the music to give herself a better reminder for it. "Not well at all."

"Keep going at it. You'll do fine," Yamato said, patting Wakana on the top of her head before he sat down on his chair. Wakana only nodded, biting her lip as she tried to figure out the best way to shift playing positions on her cello so that she could mark it down too.

"How did your section treat you today, Yamato?" Wakana heard Susumu asked the other boy distantly.

"Not bad." Yamato paused. "I mean, I've gotten my part down, which is enough to satisfy Nobu. He doesn't even bother complaining anymore about the fact that I can't play the song by reading the sheet music. He's just glad, I think, that I've managed to memorize the song enough that I can play it straight through without bringing embarrassment to the whole section."

"Is that a good thing, though?" Susumu asked, the doubt heavy in his voice. "I don't know if it's a good idea for Nobu to let you just memorize it and not practice actually reading it."

Yamato's next words sounded defeated. "I really don't know anymore. If I play the song from memory, I can at least play it through to the end, even though I'm just making my dependence on memorization even worse. But if I don't, then I get the rest of my section and the orchestra upset at me." Yamato paused again. "Honestly? I don't know which one is the lesser of the two evils." The two boys digested this for a while before changing the subject to more trivial things, and so Wakana tuned them out in favor of practicing her fingering again.

This time, she actually made it through to the end of the solo section, cheering her briefly. She probably had only managed it because no one else was watching her, but for the moment, she would accept the fleeting happiness. To be honest with herself, Wakana knew that there was a very small chance that she would be able to succeed at this solo well enough to beat Kayo out for the part. The infrequency of her being able to make it to the end of the solo most of the time only assured her of that fact. But Wakana wouldn't give up on it; she loved 'Ghosts', and she would always wonder how things would have turned out if she passed up the chance to audition for the cello solo.

While she was practicing dry-fingering the notes again, the door to Manami's office suddenly snapped open, making her jump. Wakana sighed when she saw Kosuke stalk out of Manami's office, a deadly expression on his face and headed their way. She stopped practicing and turned her head to warn the guys, "Here comes trouble." Yamato and Susumu fell silent in the conversation at the concertmaster's approach, and they all turned back to look at Kosuke when he stopped in front of them. His knuckles were clenched tightly, shaking with suppressed anger.

"You." Kosuke looked directly at Yamato. "We need to talk. In private."

Wakana was surprised to hear the edge of rage in his words, rage simmering in his voice like the hiss of a snake. Susumu looked perturbed by this as well and began to intervene by saying sharply, "If you want to talk to Yamato, you can do it here, Ito."

"This doesn't concern you, Hotta," Kosuke shot back, though his eyes never left Yamato's impassive face. "Stay out of it." He sucked in a deep breath, as if in attempt to calm himself for a while longer. Then his eyes narrowed again and he said warningly, "Ishida, you heard me."

Wakana bit her lip nervously as she watched Yamato, waiting to see what he would do. He hadn't moved yet from his seat, but it seemed as if he was measuring Kosuke up. A few tense seconds later, Yamato turned to Susumu. "Hold onto my bass for me, would you? I'll be right back," he said, slipping the strap of his bass off of him and holding it out carefully for Susumu to take. Wakana and Susumu both gaped at Yamato.

"You can't be serious, Yamato," Susumu managed to say, his hands still frozen on his lap, making no move to take the mass from Yamato. His eyes flicked toward the concertmaster before focusing on Yamato again. Susumu spoke again, louder this time. "I don't trust him," he spat, making it clear which 'him' he was referring to.

Wakana glanced nervously around the room, noticing that - while almost everyone else was still occupied with practicing - a few musicians had begun to notice what was going on. It was probably because of this that Yamato stood up, firmly handing his bass to Susumu. The pianist had no choice but to take it. "I can take care of myself, Susumu," Yamato said lowly, as if to reassure Susumu. To Wakana, he patted her head one more time. "If this takes long, good luck on your audition," Yamato said, giving Wakana a small smile that she was too shocked to return. Then, Yamato lifted his head to meet Kosuke's gaze, the smile fading already until his face was as blank as Kosuke's was angry. "Lead the way, Ito," Yamato said calmly. Kosuke turned on his heel and headed out the door of the music cabin without another word and Yamato followed after him, leaving Wakana and Susumu behind, speechless.

They stared after the two musicians for a moment. "What in the world was _that_ about?" Wakana demanded of the pianist as soon as she recovered her ability to speak again.

"I have absolutely no idea," Susumu trailed off with a shake of his head, absolutely frustrated. "This is completely ridiculous. It's not like Yamato messed up with the bass section today. What could Yamato have done that would anger Kosuke so much?

Before either one of them could speculate for long, however, Manami came eventually back out of her office. She had a tired expression on her face, but she called out loudly just the same, "Cellists who are auditioning for the solo, please come to the front of the room with your materials."

Wakana groaned and shot one last, desperate look at Susumu. "Already?" she said helplessly as she took up her things, thoughts of Kosuke and Yamato immediately being pushed back to think about at some other time.

Susumu gave her an encouraging, though somewhat still distracted, smile. "You can do it, Wakana. Really. Just calm down and give it your best shot," he said, giving her two thumbs up. Wakana sighed, nodded, and proceeded to carry her cello carefully to the center of the room, feeling that every step that she took made her heart race even faster.

Predictably, Kayo was the only other cellist who was at the front of the room. When she turned to face Wakana, Kayo had an unpleasant smile on her face that Wakana knew was really only a mask to hide Kayo's irritation with Wakana. Nonetheless, with Manami watching, Kayo couldn't say anything rude. "May the best cellist win," she said coolly, sticking out a hand to Wakana.  
_  
Faker. _Wakana gripped Kayo's proffered hand and looked her rival in the eyes evenly, allowing her suspicion to show so that Kayo would know that Wakana wasn't fooled by this show of camaraderie in the slightest. "Agreed."

* * *

Yamato had a feeling that, whatever it was that Kosuke would have to say to him, it probably wouldn't be pleasant.

_But then again_, Yamato reminded himself, _when have _any _of my conversations with Kosuke ever ended well?  
_  
Mentally, Yamato ran over his actions in the past weekend and morning session rehearsal, frowning as he tried to remember if he had done anything recently to upset the volatile concertmaster.

As he had promised on Friday, Yamato had diligently practiced his music over the weekend - in the process, billing more than enough hours in the practice rooms to prove his dedication to the orchestra for Kosuke and any other orchestra member who doubted Yamato's work habits. And all those hours of continuous practice had paid off. It had been worth it, to see the surprise on Nobu and the other bassists' faces when Yamato managed to keep up with them throughout the entire length of the 'Ghosts'.

By the end of their rehearsal that morning, Nobu had patted Yamato on the shoulder before retreating to one of the practice rooms. Even the other bassists, who had kept their distance from him for fear of accidentally getting on Kosuke's bad side, had nudged Yamato and told him that they were happy to see how much he had improved.

It was nice, Yamato had to admit to himself. He hadn't liked being antagonized by everyone else for being on a lower level than them musically, and so being congratulated on his progress was a nice change. He did know better, though, than to expect that everyone's compliments were actually genuine. He had learned from watching the other orchestra members and the dynamics between the different sections to learn that, even in an orchestra - which was supposed to epitomize teamwork and cooperation - there was a fare amount of cunning diplomacy and secrecy going on.

But still, all of Yamato's musings really didn't give him any clue as to why Kosuke would want to talk to him privately again. And not being able to predict what Kosuke was going to do next... well, that was worrying.

Kosuke led them toward the coverage of the forest - far enough away to give them some privacy but close enough to the music cabin so that they could return to class if Manami wanted them to gather again. When Kosuke stopped, Yamato leaned his back against the tree to watch the concertmaster leisurely. It was obvious that Kosuke, though angry, had no idea how to start this conversation without sounding awkward, but Yamato didn't feel compelled to do Kosuke any favors. Instead, he waited silently, amused when Kosuke began pacing back and forth again, as he had a habit to do when he was nervous.

Several minutes had passed before Kosuke shot Yamato a glare and stopped pacing. "Do you have anything to tell me, Ishida?" he demanded arrogantly. "Anything at all that you think that I'm entitled to know about?"

Yamato raised an eyebrow internally and immediately tried to think of what Kosuke could be referring to. When he came up short, though, Yamato kept his face blank and replied coolly, "Nothing comes to mind."

Kosuke snorted, shaking his head with disbelief. "Do you really expect me to believe your flimsy excuse?" he scorned, advancing a few steps closer to Yamato.

"I wasn't aware that I had done something that I needed to make excuses for," Yamato returned with an easy shrug of his shoulders. He smiled mockingly. "Why don't you save ourselves the waste of time and just enlighten me about what it was, exactly, that I did to make you so upset?"

"I just finished talking to Manami earlier, after rehearsal," Kosuke said bitingly, his glare at Yamato intensifying. "We were discussing what preparations the orchestra would need to undergo for Friday's finale concert, as it is my duty to work with the conductor to ensure a flawless performance."

Yamato refrained from rolling his eyes at Kosuke's words. Really, how many times did Kosuke have to make a reference to his position of concertmaster? It wasn't as if Yamato had forgotten the fact over the weekend, what with Kosuke showing it off at every chance he had. "Yes, I know that," Yamato said patiently, as if speaking to a small child. He knew that it would anger Kosuke to be spoken down to, but Yamato couldn't resist. "But I fail to see how that has anything to do with me personally."

Kosuke grit his teeth, becoming agitated from Yamato's lack of cooperation - just as Yamato had predicted. "She mentioned something about how she talked to you, to ask that you and your band - the TEEN-AGE WOLVES," Kosuke spat the name out with distaste, "perform on finale night, after the orchestra. And that you agreed to talk to your band about taking Manami up on that offer."

Yamato waited for Kosuke to continue, but when he didn't, Yamato gave a small shrug of his shoulder. "So?" Yamato asked, raising his eyebrow outwardly this time.

"You don't deny it?" Kosuke asked, each word slowly and deliberately spoken, betraying the effort that Kosuke had made into attempting to speak calmly.

"I have no reason to. What Manami said is true. She just asked me this morning, before rehearsal started." Yamato paused. "I'm going to call my band after lunch to see what they'll say."

Kosuke's hands and teeth clenched together at Yamato's reply. "You can't do that," he ground out.

Yamato watched the tension radiate off of Kosuke for a moment before venturing dryly, "I wasn't aware that you could dictate whether or not I was allowed to do something." He paused. "Ran made the original suggestion, and Manami agreed that it would be a good idea. If you have a problem with it -"

"Of course I have a problem with it!" Kosuke fumed, cutting in.

"- then you'll have to talk to them yourself, not to me," Yamato finished. "It's not my concern whether or not you approve of it."

"So for all of the words you said about caring about the welfare of the orchestra, Ishida," Kosuke hissed, his eyes narrowing in obvious anger, "this is how you really feel. How dare you sabotage the orchestra like this?"

Yamato's eyebrows flew up in surprise. "What?" Yamato stood up straight now, Kosuke's words taking Yamato by surprise. "How the hell is having my band play at camp going to 'sabotage' the orchestra?"

"Ishida, don't play the fool and feign stupidity. It doesn't suit you." Kosuke raised his voice resentfully. "Music scouts will be coming to the finale performance to watch the orchestra, remember?"

"So what?"

"So what? So _what_!" Kosuke's voice steadily grew in volume until he exploded at Yamato. His eyes became wild, feral. "I know what you're trying to pull. You know those scouts are going to be watching the orchestra, and you just want to leap at the opportunity to have your band get more exposure in the professional world. Well guess what? I'm not going to let you do it. I'm not going to let you steal the attention away from the talented musicians of the orchestra, when you and your band are nothing more than a few amateurs who know nothing - absolutely _nothing_ - about what real music is about!"

Despite Kosuke's rant, Yamato remained largely unimpressed by the concertmaster's tirade. How many different ways could Kosuke spin a story about how Yamato would bring destruction to the entire orchestra? At this point, Yamato had lost count – and frankly, he had stopped caring somewhere along the way.

"You know what, Ito?" Yamato replied slowly, allowing the irritation that he felt leak into his words. "I really don't give a damn about whatever ulterior motives you think that I might have, but I'll clear the air for you anyway." Yamato paused, making sure that Kosuke was listening, before he continued. "I don't care about getting more exposure for my band, and even less about sabotaging the orchestra. Manami only asked me to have my band perform so that we could provide some entertainment for the visitors who are going to come and watch us."

Kosuke's eyes narrowed, suspicious. "I don't buy it," he declared after a moment. "There's no way that you would agree to perform without getting something in return."

"It's called playing music for _fun_. I'm sure you've heard of that before," Yamato said sardonically. "Ito, just get over yourself already. You've made it clear that you don't want the TEEN-AGE WOLVES to perform, and I get that. But seriously? You need to stop thinking that the whole world revolves around you."

Kosuke's eyes widened, taken aback and incensed by Yamato's words, but he didn't say anything to counter the remark. They stood in tense silence, measuring the other up, when Yamato saw someone approach out of the corner of his eyes. A moment later, Seiichi approached the clearing hesitantly. "Uh, Kosuke," Seiichi said carefully, as if subconsciously aware of the taut atmosphere but at a loss at how to react to it, "Manami wants you to come back to go over some last minute details –"

"I'll be right there," Kosuke cut Seiichi off tersely. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"

Seiichi jumped, flinching at Kosuke's sharp tone. "Oh, yes, um, I'm really sorry." He backed away, stumbling slightly and nearly falling when he tripped over the rocks on the ground.

It was Kosuke's answering sneer that provoked Yamato's and broke his disinterest with the concertmaster. If Kosuke wanted to abuse Yamato, then fine. He would take that. But Kosuke crossed the line when he treated other people as if they were nothing more than a nuisance on his time.

Yamato shot across to Kosuke, fuming, "You know why Manami asked my band to perform instead of a solo performance from you?"

That got Kosuke's attention immediately. "Why?" Kosuke demanded, advancing without being conscious of his movement.

Yamato smiled derisively. "You know the reason why. You've hinted at it enough times yourself." He watched Kosuke process his words for a moment before scoffing and continuing slowly, "If you play one of your classical solos, a few people might be impressed, but most of the other students here would be bored out of their minds. But the TEEN-AGE WOLVES – _we_ can hype people up. And if we give an awesome performance, then this career camp will gain more popularity – a good move for Ran, if you think about it. It makes more sense for me and my band to perform."

Kosuke's face drained of color, becoming pale as he listened to Yamato's mocking words. Seiichi was frozen as well, morbidly drawn into the conversation, unable to move away. Yamato continued even more quietly than he had before, "And about what you said earlier, about my supposedly sabotaging the orchestra. That's not why you're really upset, are you?"

Yamato watched Kosuke's face spasm for a brief moment, but it was for long enough for him to know that his guess was right. Yamato sucked in a breath, having just had his suspicions confirmed. "You're mad because you think that those music scouts will be more impressed by my band than _you_. You don't care about what they think about the orchestra – we're just a group that you can use to launch your own career. All you care about is how those music scouts will end up perceiving you and your 'musicianship'." Yamato spoke more rapidly, "The rest of us could bomb the performance, but if you had that solo for yourself, you could still save your future -"

Kosuke advanced rapidly, as if getting ready to yell at Yamato, right in his face. What Yamato didn't expect was for Kosuke's hand to strike out and swing.

_Slap!_

Surprised, Yamato registered a sharp pain on the left side of his face at the same time he realized that Kosuke's hand was clenched so tightly it had turned white at the knuckles. Both of them were breathing heavily.

"Yamato!" Seiichi blurted out. Yamato slowly lifted his eyes to look at the violinist, and saw that Seiichi's own eyes were widened with horror. He didn't dare to move, though, from his spot at the fringes of the forest clearing. It was easy for Yamato to see that Seiichi was too terrified to get any closer to Kosuke, even though he leaned forward anxiously to look at Yamato. "Yamato, are you okay?"

"Don't you _ever_ speak like that to me again, you ignorant bastard!" Kosuke snarled, ignoring Seiichi's presence completely. His face was contorted, sharpening the angles of his face until he looked absolutely furious. Rather than inspire fear or terror of any kind in him though, Kosuke's expression only made Yamato realize that he actually felt pity for the concertmaster – pity that he would go to such ends in order to assert his ephemeral authority.

So Yamato ignored Kosuke's words. Instead, he pressed his fingers to his cheek, and winced slightly at the flame of hurt that the action created. _That's definitely going to leave a bruise, _Yamato thought, distant wonder sinking in on his mind when he pulled his fingers away and saw the tiny blur of blood on them. He hadn't expected that Kosuke could hit so hard. Actually, he hadn't anticipated that Kosuke would hit him at all. "I'll be fine, Seiichi," Yamato said calmly as he looked toward the boy when he remembered to reassure him. "Do me a favor and get back inside. I can take care of this. Kosuke'll only be a while longer."

Seiichi looked as if he wanted to protest, but decided to listen when Yamato gave him another look. He left immediately after that without another look at either boys, leaving Yamato alone with Kosuke again.

Yamato straightened up, wiping his hand on his pants and setting his shoulders so that he could look down at Kosuke. When Yamato was absolutely sure that Seiichi was out of earshot, Yamato shook his head. Before Kosuke could snap at him, Yamato spoke. "And to think that I used to believe that you had to be composed in order to be the concertmaster of any orchestra," he said slowly, eyeing Kosuke dispassionately. "I guess I was wrong after all."

Kosuke had no response for that, and merely continued to glare murderously at Yamato. And while the look would have disturbed Yamato on Friday, today it was surprisingly easy to ignore. Yamato chuckled quietly before shaking his head and walking away.

* * *

Sora leaned over the desk to watch Paul sketch. His pencil flicked across the piece of paper rapidly, turning the vague lines into more detailed forms. Despite this, his entire body posture remained relaxed, so used to the exercise was he. After a moment, Paul stopped and put the pencil down on the desk. He pushed back his stool so that the others could see the sketch more easily. "So is this what we all had in mind? Looks good?" Paul asked the other artists who were surrounding the desk.

They all converged closer so that they could get a better look at the sketch, and then murmured their assent that they liked it. "It looks good," said Rikuto (another painter in their class and the leader of the painting group for Friday's performance). Privately, Sora agreed with him. It was a rough sketch, but the composition of the mountain landscape, complete with waterfall and flowing river, was sure to look stunning once it was actually painted. "I'm sure that Chiasa will like this mural design," Rikuto went on, and the others nodded.

"The question is," Paul muttered, frowning at the paper as he picked it up for everyone to see more easily, "if we'll be able to finish this design in time for Friday night. You guys remember how big the wall is."

Paul's reminder made them all fell quiet. The wall that he was referring to was one of the large, expansive walls in the dining hall. A large piece of white butcher paper would be hung up on the wall, which would serve as a backdrop to all of the performances. Ran had suggested that the art classes take charge in designing and painting it, and Chiasa had confidently assured her that the task was well in the painters' capabilities.

Sora smiled, shaking her head as she remembered how they had all reacted when Chiasa told them what Ran had asked of them when they all came to class in the morning. They had initially been excited for the opportunity to showcase their talent - until they remembered how large the wall really was.

"Well then, all the more reason for us to agree on a design now and get started as soon as we can," a girl spoke up after they all reflected for a silent moment. The girl wasn't one of the painters, at least not officially; Kasumi was actually one of the many digital artists in the class. However, when Chiasa had asked other students if they were willing to volunteer their time and attempt to help paint the mural, Kasumi had been the first to offer up her help. She had no experience with traditional materials, but Sora had snuck a glance at the girl's portfolio. It was nothing short of impressive.

Kasumi had continued on with her suggestions, "Lunch is going to start soon, so I think that we should all take a break now. Since we've been trying to figure out a design all morning, we need some time to cool off. We'll take an hour rest, hang out with our friends for a while, and then we'll all meet in the dining hall at two o'clock so that we can get started on actually sketching it."

"Sounds like a plan," Paul said approvingly. He looked around at everyone. "Bring your charcoal pencils when we meet up again, guys; we want to make sure that this gets done quickly."

They all talked out a few more details before the artists dispersed to go clean up their station. As soon as they were moving away, Paul turned to Sora. "Ready to go to lunch?" he asked with a smile. "I'm starving already."

Sora rubbed her shoulder and shrugged. "Actually, I'm going to eat with my other friends today," Sora explained apologetically. "I've been feeling bad that I didn't really get a chance to hang out with them over the weekend. You know, since I was out with you guys almost all the time," Sora teased.

Paul grimaced guiltily. "Yeah, I guess we sort of monopolized you. Accidentally." He paused and asked curiously, "They're not mad at us… are they?"

Sora laughed at the expression on Paul's face. "It's not big deal, really. I'm just feeling bad out of my own volition. But let Yuu and Linda know that I'll see them later, at dinner or something, okay?" Sora glanced up at the clock on the wall. "I should get going; the bell's going to ring soon."

He nodded. "See you later."

She returned to her station to quickly throw her things back into her bag and put her art materials away before headed out the door. Luckily, she managed to reach the dining hall just as the bell rang, so she was able to beat the lunchtime traffic. While she went through the line to decide what she felt like eating, Sora glanced up at the mural wall.

It looked relatively harmless at the moment, with the heavy white butcher paper nailed up against it. But the sheer size of it still made Sora vaguely nervous. She was suddenly relieved that there were so many people who were willing to be a part of the art project with the painters. There were the digital artists, like Kasumi, but a few sculptors had also volunteered to help out, even though they all professed that they had no experience with painting. It was a calming fact, Sora had to admit, knowing that they had a lot of people willing to pitch in and collaborate on the mural with them.

As soon as she finished selecting her food, Sora took her tray and carefully maneuvered around the tables to make her way back to the group's table. She was the first one, of course, to be there, and she sat and ate slowly as she waited for the others to arrive.

Taichi, Kiku, Kohei, Hayate, and Koushiro were the first ones to come to the table, and they were busy joking around with each other as they walked. Sora grinned when Kiku noticed Sora sitting at the table and gave a squeal of delight. She rushed over to the table and slid her tray onto the table before hugging Sora around the arms. "I didn't think that you'd be sitting with us today!" Kiku said when she let go and sat down on the chair next to Sora.

Taichi sat down on Sora's other side, grinning widely. "Nice to have you join us for lunch today. Did you miss us?" he teased, poking her in the ribs.

"Terribly," Sora replied lightly, smiling back at Taichi's bright face as she reflexively swat at him. "I was dying from the separation."

"I'm not surprised. You were suffering from Yagami-withdrawals," Taichi said wisely.

Sora nodded in agreement and gave a heavy sigh as she said regretfully, "I really do miss Hikari a lot." It took a moment for her words to sink in all the way, but when they did, Sora couldn't help but laugh when Taichi began to splutter in surprise. Sora turned to face Kiku, turning her back on Taichi. "So, what were you guys talking about when you got here?" Sora asked mirthfully.

"We were just talking about what we thought the other classes were, like, going to be doing for Friday," Kiku supplied, hiding her own smile at Taichi's reaction. She began to count the classes off of her fingers. "Orchestra's definitely going to give a performance, that's, like, expected. And the cooking class is going to be providing the food."

"I hope the culinary class is going to make us a five course feast or something," Kohei interjected, swallowing down at his rice cake to speak. "That would be amazing!"

"But super-expensive and time-consuming." Kiku rolled her eyes and continued to talk to Sora, pointedly ignoring Kohei. "But then, there are like all these classes who aren't willing to reveal what they're planning, in order to keep it all like one huge surprise. Engineering, for example," Kiku shot a mock-death glare Hayate's way, "is being like all painfully stubborn about keeping everything hush hush and under wraps. It's ridiculous!"

"Where's the fun in revealing everything now? That'll take the element of surprise away by the time Friday comes, and we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?" Koushiro teased mildly, his rapid-fire taps on his laptop keyboard not even pausing as he spoke. Hayate nodded sagely in agreement, though he ducked when Kiku lobbied a crumpled ball of paper napkin at his head.

While Kiku attempted to get Koushiro and Hayate to reveal the secret to her, Taichi leaned over to whisper in Sora's ear, "My bet is that they're going to be making a robot or something. I heard them whispering about the mechanics of it before Kohei and Kiku ruined our entrance by being loud."

Sora laughed aloud at that. "Maybe, maybe. I don't doubt that they'd be able to pull it off, that's for sure." She looked back at Taichi speculatively. "I don't suppose that business is also keeping their contribution a surprise as well, are they?"

Taichi pretended to give it some consideration while he munched on his food. He swallowed. "We're not supposed to say anything about it. Hiroyuki would kill me if he found out. Not that I don't trust you to keep it to yourself, of course, but I'd be breaking my oath to my teacher. Wouldn't want that happening," Taichi said, attempting to be solemn about it. The effect was rather ruined by the wide smile on his face.

"All right, fine. Be that way," Sora mock huffed, crossing her arms as she pretended to be disgruntled about it. "I have the worst luck. I can't even bargain with you by telling you what art is going to be doing, since it's way too easy to figure out anyway." She sighed. "Well, at least I know that Yamato, Wakana, and Susumu will for sure be performing. So art isn't alone with having a non-secret contribution."

"I wonder if they'll sound good though," Taichi mused, running a hand through his messy hair. "Not that I would say it around those two when they were actually here, but all their practicing makes me wonder what we should expect from their performance by the time Friday rolls around. I hope it's not like one of those types of things that gets a lot of attention before – and then ends up disappointing everyone later on."

Sora shook her head firmly, disagreeing immediately. "I don't think that will be the case with the orchestra, Taichi. You weren't there on the day of the audition, so you wouldn't know - but all of the musicians in the orchestra are really, really talented." Sora paused. "It gave me the chills, just listening to them play. They were that good. I really think that they'll do well."

Kiku overheard their conversation and joined in, making a face as she said, "I just hope that they don't play a classical song or something typical like that. They could be the best orchestra in the world. But if they play, I don't know, Mozart or something, I think I'll fall asleep, even if Yamato and Wakana are in it."

"How could you be bored by Mozart?" Koushiro questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I'm no musician, but even _I _know that he was a musical genius. He composed his first opera at the age of twelve. And let me tell you, composing an opera is much more difficult than writing a computer program -"

Hayate nudged Koushiro in the ribs, cutting off Koushiro's explanation when he saw the uncomfortable look on Kiku's face. "I think that Kiku was just using the first composer she could think of as an example," he pointed out quietly. Kiku nodded energetically, still grimacing.

Koushiro had the grace to look embarrassed. "Oh. Sorry, Kiku, I didn't mean to get carried away."

"Don't worry about it," Kiku said quickly. She glanced around for something new to talk about and her face suddenly brightened. "Hey look, the musicians are coming."

"Hello!" Wakana said cheerfully, slipping into a spare seat at the table. Susumu nodded to echo everyone else's greeting and down. Wakana looked around at everyone. "How are you guys doing? Sorry we were late; we had a slight complication in class keeping us behind…"

"Don't worry about it," Taichi answered with a wave of his hand as he leaned back in his chair to make himself more comfortable. "We're all doing pretty good, just catching up on what we were up to this morning." Taichi got a devious look on his face as he asked slyly, "So tell me, what song is the orchestra going to be playing for the camp performance? Kiku's hoping that it's not going to be Mozart," he added, easily dodging Kiku's second paper napkin missile.

Susumu shook his head, a slight smile on his face. "Oh, no you don't, Yagami. It's already unfair that you guys know that we'll be performing, period. We wouldn't want to unbalance the fairness even further by actually telling you what song we're going to be doing. We need to keep a small measure of surprise, you know."

Taichi made a face at that response, but Sora nodded in agreement. "Susumu has a point. Taichi, I'm sure that you can hold on until Friday. It's only a few more days."

"I suppose I'll find some way to manage it." Taichi sighed heavily as if it were a great burden, making Kohei snicker. Then, Taichi shook his head and changed the subject by asked the musicians, "By the way, where's Yamato? Didn't he leave with you guys?"

The two musicians exchanged a long glance, seeming to war with each other through silent facial expressions alone. Everyone at their table fell silent with curiosity, sensing that something must have happened in music class, and that Yamato had been in the center of it.

The thought made Sora worry. She hoped that he wasn't in some kind of trouble…

It seemed that Wakana won the silent argument when Susumu finally sighed and turned to talk. He faced Taichi and haltingly began to explain, "After our morning rehearsal, Wakana and I were working on her cello solo to prep for her audition. Yamato came over to listen, and he and I were talking for a bit when Kosuke arrived, looking pretty mad too."

Suddenly, Sora remembered why the name 'Kosuke' had seemed so familiar to her when she'd introduced herself to the concertmaster on Friday afternoon. Kosuke was the name of Wakana's rival, and was no friend of Susumu and Yamato's either. She bit her lip. How could she have forgotten?

Meanwhile, Susumu was continuing on with his story. "He demanded that Yamato go talk to him privately. And even though Wakana and I told him not to, Yamato left with him." Susumu frowned, and Wakana picked up the thread of the story for him.

"My cello audition was right after that," Wakana began to say, "so I couldn't go after him. And Susumu told me afterwards that he'd thought that it might be good to just let them sort it out on their own, especially since Yamato said he could handle it."

"How did your audition go?" Kiku interrupted before the story could progress any further.

Wakana sighed, her lips turning down. "I'm the understudy. Kayo, my section leader, got the solo." She waved aside the group's automatic apologies, though. "It's all right, I'm getting over it. Anyway, back to our story. After auditions wrapped up, Manami asked someone to go and get Kosuke so that she could discuss some more things with him. Seiichi volunteered to go outside – Kosuke took Yamato out to the forest to talk – and so we were just chilling out, waiting for Kosuke to come."

"But what ended up happening," Susumu said tightly, "was that, when Seiichi walked in on where Yamato and Kosuke were talking, the two of them were actually in the middle of an argument.

"Seiichi told us later that didn't really understand what was going on, but then Yamato supposedly said something to Kosuke that pissed him off - and Kosuke hit Yamato in the face for it."

"What!" Taichi exclaimed in shock at the same time that Koushiro raised his eyes to the ceiling and Sora moaned, pressing her fingers to rub her temples. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought of Yamato getting hurt – and the thought that Kosuke had been the one to hit him. And he'd seemed so nice to her before, Sora thought, shaking her head.

Taichi leaned across the table, his brown eyes darkened with anger and his jaw set firm. "And then what happened?" Taichi demanded.

"Yamato told Seiichi that he would take care of Kosuke," Wakana said slowly, watching Taichi's face warily. "And Seiichi was scared, so he left. He didn't want to say anything at first, but when Manami made him talk, Seiichi told us everything that he saw happen. And then when Kosuke finally returned, Manami took him to her office to reprimand him." She sighed. "Well, if anything good came out of this whole thing, it would be that Kosuke at least got himself suspended in his position as concertmaster."

"Jerk, he deserved it," Kiku muttered darkly under her breath. "Stupid prick."

Wakana nodded her head in eager agreement. "No kidding! That definitely made my day better. It's nice to know that Kosuke's getting put in his place." Then she made a face, remembering another detail. "But he's still going to perform as our concertmaster on Friday. He's that much better than his second chair stand partner - Manami knows that, when the scouts come to watch us perform, if they see Kosuke playing in the second seat instead of the first, they'd be outraged."

"If this was a different world and Kosuke weren't famous, then he'd probably be kicked out of the orchestra completely," Susumu scoffed. "Unfortunately, things never work out the way we want them to."

Taichi rolled his eyes. "I guess we should just be happy that he's getting punished at all, then."

They all took a few more minutes to abuse Kosuke a while longer when Koushiro spoke up. "It's still hard for me to believe that Kosuke managed to hit Yamato, though," Koushiro said slowly, his instinct for rationalizing the angles of a situation kicking in. Sora looked over at him, and Koushiro had a thoughtful expression on his face. "Yamato may be a musician, but he also knows jujutsu, remember? I've seen him teach Iori - a friend of ours - before, and Yamato has very fast reflexes. How could he have been caught off guard?"

Susumu shrugged, puzzled as well. "Maybe Kosuke knows martial arts too?" he suggested.

Wakana shook her head dismissively. "I doubt it. Kosuke's so dedicated to his violin, why would he spend his time doing something else when he could be practicing? Besides, I don't think that Kosuke would risk damaging his fingers by learning martial arts." She considered Koushiro's rationale, tapping her chin as she thought. "Well, Kosuke has this tendency to get close up and in your face when he's angry. Maybe he stepped closer and Yamato assumed that Kosuke was just going to spit in his face or something - and then Kosuke's temper got the better of him and he hit Yamato instead?"

Kohei whistled lowly. "Damn. Yamato's usually a really chill guy. He must've said something that _really _got under this Kosuke guy's skin, to push him into hitting Yamato like that."

Sora sighed sadly. "Yamato usually knows exactly what to say to upset people and make them angry, unfortunately. Knowing him, Yamato probably insulted Kosuke on purpose."

Taichi spoke up, still angry. "Kosuke's lucky that I wasn't there when he hit Yamato - or that Yamato wasn't angry himself. Otherwise, he would've gotten a punch in return."

Sora glanced at Kiku and they both rolled their eyes. It was such a typical male response, to think of violence as the only solution to their problems. Sora ignored Taichi for the moment so that she could look back across the table to Susumu. "And then what happened to Yamato, after Kosuke came back in?"

"I have no idea," Susumu said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "He never came back in, even after Kosuke returned. I had to put away his bass and music for him."

"Oh."

"He probably walked off to think, or whatever," Wakana said to Sora, seeing the disappointed look that Sora knew that she must have had on her face. "He probably thought that it would be a bad idea to come back to class with Kosuke… might have made things even worse."

"I guess so," Sora said doubtfully as she began to stand up, cleaning up her lunch tray. "Listen, I'm going to go and head over the art rooms now," she said, crossing her fingers behind her back. "I'll see you guys all at dinner later, okay?"

"All right." "See you later, Sora." "Bye!"

* * *

Yamato lay back on the grassy incline of the forest to relax. The leaves on the trees around him swayed gently in the light wind, and he watched the pattern of green and yellow from the sunlight shift and change for a long moment.

It was nice, Yamato decided, to get away from the noise and drama of camp. It wasn't often that he was able to go into nature and just relax. During most of the year, he was so busy with school and the band that he was usually just driving on his motorcycle from one end of Odaiba to the other.

It was usually on those rare days when he was free that Yamato was able to go and visit Gabumon briefly in the Digital World. They would catch up and relax, Gabumon resting against him as Yamato played his harmonica. Like the old times.

Yamato closed his eyes, letting the sounds of the leaves calm him. It would have been nice to have Gabumon by his side at that moment. How long had it been since their last visit? Yamato couldn't remember. Lately, Yamato only had the chance to pass along his greetings to Gabumon through Takeru, Hikari, or Daisuke, or vice versa. The thought made Yamato feel bad, but he wondered if things would only get worse once he left school to go to university.

Yamato's musings were interrupted when his cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He made no move to answer it, though. Whoever it was would just have to leave a message; he was far too comfortable to bother with moving now. He noted distantly that the cell phone had stopped vibrating, and felt his consciousness begin to drift away. _A nap sounds like a good idea_, he thought, yawning.

Unfortunately, the phone began to vibrate again. He let it go on for a few seconds, sure that the caller would give up eventually, but to no avail. Whoever it was that was calling him, Yamato had to at least compliment them for being so persistent. Without opening his eyes, Yamato reached into his pocket and felt for his phone, pulling it out when his fingers grasped it. He flipped it open and pressed it to his ear. "Yes?" he said as he yawned again.

"Took you long enough," huffed a familiar voice. "Are you really such an important rock star that you can't even answer your phone the first time around?"

Yamato opened his eyes, surprised. He could recognize that voice anywhere. Yamato began to smile. "Sora?"

"Why didn't you come to lunch?" Sora continued, unperturbed that he hadn't answered her first question.

"Didn't feel like it." Yamato shrugged, though he knew that Sora couldn't see him. He paused. "Were Wakana and Susumu there?"

"Yes." Yamato could tell from the terse tone she was using that Sora was frowning. "They told us all about…you know."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?" Sora asked after a moment, when Yamato didn't add anything else. "Kosuke didn't - he didn't hurt you too badly, right?"

Yamato automatically lifted his hand as if to press his fingers against his cheek, but stopped short. He wasn't so masochistic that he wanted to inflict unnecessary pain on himself. "I'm fine. I just won't be able to sleep on my side tonight, that's all," he answered at length.

"Did you put some ice on it?" Sora asked, her voice taking a turn for the sympathetic.

"The swelling will go down on its own. I'm not too worried about it." Yamato shifted his legs to change his position on the ground.

"I figured as much," Sora said, the laughter evident in her voice.

Smiling, Yamato was about to add something else when the connection between their phones abruptly cut off. Yamato blinked, pulled the phone away from his ear so that he could stare at it. "Huh," he muttered to himself. "Where'd she go?"

"Right here."

Yamato lifted his head from the grass and saw Sora approaching, a plastic bag of ice in hand. "How did you find me?" Yamato asked curiously, not at all upset to have her company, as he watched her come closer. He shoved his phone back into his jean pocket.

"Easy." Sora reached into her pocket and displayed her Digivice for Yamato to see. He could see the blinking lights on its screen. "You forgot that you had a tracking device on you, didn't you?" she teased, putting her Digivice back into her pocket as she sat down on the grass next to him.

"Totally slipped my mind," Yamato admitted, his hand patting his other pocket when he felt his Digivice rest against his leg. "I usually forget that I have it with me until I actually use it."

Sora nodded as she sat down next to him, dropping her bag on the ground beside her. She held out the ice to him. "Here, I got this for you. I figured that you would need it, after hearing Susumu and Wakana's story." Sora's eyes traced the line of his left cheek, her mouth twisted into a downturn when she saw the slight pricks of dried blood amidst the swollen area of skin. "It's worse than I thought it was," she admitted.

"It's okay. It's not that bad." Yamato lifted his chin at the offered ice bag. "I don't need it. The swelling will go down on its own, and the blood's already dry."

"Don't be stubborn," Sora said reproachfully. She pressed the ice into Yamato's hand as she turned to grab her bag. She rummaged through it. "If Jyou were here, I'm sure that he would agree that you need to put some ice on your cheek to help the swelling go down. Did you disinfect the blood?"

"Er… no?"

Sora shook her head. "Why am I not surprised," she asked herself rhetorically as she took a small case of antiseptic cotton swabs out. Yamato raised an eyebrow in question at her, and she defended, "It's nice to be prepared, okay? Don't give me that look." As if in retaliation, she reached over quickly and wiped Yamato's cheek.

Though it stung, Yamato didn't move, his eyes intent on Sora's face. "I didn't know that you were picking up on Jyou's habits."

She shrugged, focused on wiping his wound – if you could call it that – thoroughly. "It happens, when you hang out with people long enough." Sora pulled back, a satisfied expression on her face. "Put the ice on it, and it'll be okay in no time," she instructed as she fished around in her bag for something she could throw the trash away in.

Yamato complied, flinching initially at the freezing contact but relaxing soon afterward. The coldness of the bag was actually a nice antidote to the hot weather, and tempted to use the ice as a cooling pack instead, Yamato put it on his forehead, laughing to himself. When Sora turned around to look at him, she sighed in exasperation. "You're ridiculous," Sora told him, taking the ice bag herself and pressing it against his left cheek.

Yamato's eyes closed. "I know. Good thing you're here."

"Yeah, good thing," Sora repeated. They fell silent for a while, Sora's pressure on the ice bag steady against Yamato's cheek. "Are you hungry? I saved some fruit from my lunch for you to eat, if you are."

He smiled without opening his eyes. "No, I'm fine. Thanks, though, for thinking of me."

"Of course," she replied absentmindedly. After a moment, Sora asked hesitantly, "So what exactly did you say to Kosuke that made him hit you like that?"

Yamato opened his eyes to meet Sora's concerned gaze. "I told him that he was a selfish asshole," he said lightly. "He didn't take to the news so well."

Sora only rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised he hit you, then, if you were that rude about it?" She sighed and told Yamato, "You shouldn't have pressed him on like that. He's probably already stressed enough at it is, worrying about Friday and whatnot. You didn't have to make it worse."

"Maybe I didn't have to. But he deserved it, Sora. You don't know him like I do," Yamato said earnestly, though he wasn't quite sure why he had to explain his motives to Sora about the matter. When she didn't answer, only shifted the ice bag slightly against his cheek, Yamato allowed his eyes to drift over her face, observing her features. Her eyebrows were knit together in worry and her amber eyes were concentrated on his injury. Her lips were pursed as well, like they usually were when she was stressed out about something.

Yamato involuntarily smiled. It had been such a long time since she had looked at him like that – so open and caring – that it made him feel warm and content, more than he had any right to feeling.

Sora pulled the ice bag away from his face after a moment. She touched the skin of his cheek lightly with her free fingers, somehow making the touch feel soothing through the dulled ache. "Does it still hurt?" she asked softly, her eyes rising to meet his.

Yamato shook his head slightly. "Not anymore." She pulled her hand back as Yamato sat up. "Thank you," he said to her, hoping that she could hear the genuine gratefulness he felt. "You didn't have to do this for me, you know."

Her shoulders lifted and dropped in the barest of shrugs before she shifted her weight to rest on her palm against the ground. She ran her other hand through her hair reflectively. "I know. But… I guess I care too much to just leave it alone," she explained, her voice quiet as she smiled at him.

Yamato regarded her for a moment, watching the sun glint off of her hair, turning it red and orange and even gold at times with the light. Slowly, before he even realized what he was doing, Yamato shifted his weight forward, pressing his hand down on the ground so that his fingers touched hers. "Thanks," he said again, lower this time.

He leaned forward, closing the gap in between them.

Sora's eyes widened a fraction, and she sucked in a shallow breath before she bit her bottom lip uneasily, unconsciously. Suddenly, it felt as if the air between them had become heavy with anticipation. Yamato's mind muted, turned blank; the sound of the leaves, his mind frantically trying to reason with him that _this was not a good idea_ – all of it faded, until all he was really aware of the sound of their quickened breathing, the steadily rising rate of his heartbeat, and the fact that there were several inches at best still between them...

Then her cell phone rang.

Startled by the sound, they both jerked back, away from each other. Yamato's heart took off, the late adrenaline kicking in, and Sora's face flushed as she fumbled into her shorts' pockets and to grab her phone. "Hello?" she asked, slightly breathlessly. "Paul. Hi."

As she spoke on the phone, Yamato looked around the ground for the abandoned ice pack, his fingers itching for something to hold, to occupy himself with. When he found it near Sora's leg, he reached over quickly to take it before pressing it gingerly against his cheek again. When he felt like he had his body's reactions under control, he chanced a look at Sora, to watch her as she listened. Her flush had begun to fade, now. Only her cheeks retained the pinkish tinge. "Oh, okay," she was saying. "Yeah. I'll be there in five minutes... mhmm. All right. Bye."

Sora took the phone away from her ear and pressed a button to end the call. As she put her phone away, her eyes were lowered to the ground, as if unable to meet his gaze. She fumbled with the strap of her bag and opened her mouth to speak once, but then closed it again.

It would be his job to make the first move, then.

"You're leaving?" Yamato asked curiously, though with a careful distance. In the back of his mind, he registered that his voice was steady as usual, and was glad for it.

"Yes." She looked up again to meet his eyes, a relieved expression on her face. Yamato wasn't sure whether it was relief that he hadn't broached the subject of what had almost come to pass between them or something else – and found that he didn't really want to know the answer. Sora continued to explain, "It's for art's project for Friday's performance. They're waiting for me to start…"

Yamato reached over to touch her shoulder – a safe spot – to nudge her. "Go on, then. Don't keep them waiting." He paused, feeling that he should add something more. "Thanks for the ice," he ended up saying, rather lamely.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Sora asked as she began to get up, picking her bag up as she did so. She brushed the grass off of her shorts and fixed her shirt before she looked back down at Yamato. "I can call Taichi or someone to come and keep you company, if you want," she offered.

But Yamato shook his head in answer. "No, I'll be fine. I was thinking of just taking a nap anyway."

"Right." Sora hesitated in place, before she remembered something. "Oh!" She opened her bag and reached inside to pull out a ball wrapped in paper. She tossed it at Yamato and he caught it reflexively. "You should eat that," she told him. "It's not good for you to be skipping meals."

Yamato peeled back the napkins to see that she had given him an orange. "Thanks."

"I'll see you at dinner then," she said lightly as she walked away, hurrying to meet up with the other artists. When her figure faded away in the distance, Yamato sighed and lay back down on the grass. His eyes remained open, though, as he stared up at the leaves again, his hands still curved around the orange.

_What the hell just happened?_


	9. The Powder Keg

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**  
Author's Notes:** So. It's been a while, hasn't it? My apologies, as ever - if you've been following my LJ, you'll know that life hasn't exactly been accommodating lately - but I'll just stop here and let my story do my talking for me. Enjoy!

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter IX: The Powder Keg_

* * *

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads! Time to wake up!"

Yamato groaned, grabbing his pillow to block the sudden beam of sunlight that streamed into the room. "Shut up, Taichi," Yamato muttered sleepily as he rolled over to hide from the sun. Distantly, he heard Hayate and Koushiro both moan similar complaints, but Taichi unfortunately paid them no heed.

"Come on, guys!" Taichi went on cheerily, his voice supremely loud at such an obscene hour in the morning. He paced back in forth across the room. "The sun's shining, the weather's good, there's a light breeze out - " Taichi continued to prattle on, as if knowing that his senseless stream of meaningless conversation would wake them all up sooner or later.

Yamato was the first to throw back his blanket in irritation, unable to listen to Taichi any longer. Yamato glared at friend and threw his pillow at him. "You can shut up now," he snapped as Taichi dodged the pillow.

The other boy only clapped his hands together, unfazed by Yamato's sour attitude. Taichi smiled brightly, making Yamato scowl. "I'm not going to be offended by your cruel words because I know that that's just your way of expressing your appreciation of what I'm doing for you," Taichi said lightly, his smile widening. "But since you're up now, I think I'm going to be heading to the showers. Don't want to get there late, to avoid the crowd." He noticed then that only one of his roommates had gotten up, and Taichi strode over to tug off Koushiro and Hayate's blankets. As both boys groaned their complaints, Taichi only laughed and said encouragingly, "Let's get going! There's so much to do, how can you just keep sleeping?"

"Taichi, lower your voice, would you?" Yamato sighed, resigned to the fact that Taichi wasn't going to allow them to go back to sleep. "You're hurting my ears."

Hayate reluctantly got up with a yawn, covering his mouth as he did so. "Fine, I'm up," he said groggily go Taichi. "Let me get my things and we can go to the showers together."

"That's the spirit!" Taichi turned to face Yamato and Koushiro, who was still recovering from Taichi's unexpected wake-up call. "You coming, Koushiro? Yamato?"

Yamato shook his head as he absentmindedly combed his fingers back through his hair and rubbed his eyes. "He and I already took showers last night. We'll stay here."

"Wait for us before you leave to go get breakfast?" Taichi asked as a still-sleepy Hayate walked past him out of the room.

"I wouldn't count on it," Yamato said dryly, quirking his mouth slightly. "After how you woke us up, I don't think you deserve our patience."

"Ha ha, very funny," Taichi shot back. "We'll be back as soon as we can."

After Taichi left, closing the door behind him, Yamato yawned quietly and turned to Koushiro. "How did you sleep?"

"Well, until Taichi woke us up," Koushiro said with a roll of his eyes. He leveled his black eyes on Yamato. "And you?"

"Good, thanks." Yamato crawled to the edge of his bunk bed and carefully heaved himself over the railing to neatly drop to the floor. He moved toward the wardrobe and began to take out his clothes from his luggage. "I thought that it would have been hard for me to fall asleep, since I took a nap. But I knocked out as soon as I closed my eyes."

"Camp has probably tired you out," Koushiro suggested. "It's unsurprisingly, really, when you take into consideration the rigor of your music class. You've been rehearsing like a mad man ever since your orchestra got down to business." Yamato smiled at that. Koushiro got up from his bunk to stretch before moving to the closet to get his own clothes. They both dressed in silence. "Your bruise is looking better this morning." Koushiro noted after a moment. "It doesn't hurt nearly as much as yesterday, does it?"

Yamato shook his head absentmindedly as he checked his hair in the mirror, running his hand through it so that he would lose the shape his hair had gotten from his pillow. "Nope. It doesn't hurt at all," Yamato answered, prodding said bruise with his index finger to demonstrate. He laughed. "I've been hit by worse, before. The Digital World made sure of that."

"Of course," Koushiro agreed, smiling reminiscently as he joined Yamato in front of the mirror. "We've suffered and sustained worse injuries than small bruises than that in the course of our time in the Digital World." He paused, and Yamato noticed that Koushiro's eyes had gained a tint of amusement to them. "I would say that bruise of yours is worthy trade-off, then, when you remember it's because of that bruise that Kosuke has been put in his place, eh?"

Yamato couldn't help but laugh again, this time at Koushiro's obvious satisfaction. The expression on his friend's face was similar to cat that had just managed to corner a mouse. "You know," Yamato remarked, leaning against the post of the bunk bed and surveying Koushiro, "I think practically everyone in our group enjoys the fact that Kosuke's been punished than more than I do, and most of you have never even suffered under the hands of his tyranny."

Koushiro black eyes were wide and much too innocent. "Well, none of us can stand to watch injustice happen. We're all glad that evil has been punished and Kosuke isn't in a position of power any longer to torment you and Wakana."

Yamato smirked but shook his head at the same time. "Kosuke is hardly evil," Yamato replied as he crossed his arms, "only arrogant and self-centered. And tormenting us? That's going a bit far, isn't it? His demands were all reasonable, up until he threw a fit about the possibility of the WOLVES performing on Friday."

Koushiro blinked. "The TEEN-AGE WOLVES will be performing on Friday?" he asked, his eyebrows flying up in surprise.

"Yes." Yamato blinked back at Koushiro, confused that Koushiro was staring at him so oddly, when Yamato remembered. He slapped himself in the head. "Oh, _right_. I forgot to tell you all yesterday at dinner." Yamato grinned. "Ran wanted the WOLVES to come and perform on Friday for extra entertainment, so Manami asked me about it yesterday before class started to ask my band if they were interested. I'm still waiting for the guys to call me back before I can say for sure that we're performing, but I'm pretty sure that they'll say yes." Yamato shrugged. "It's not a big deal. Anyway, as far as Kosuke's concerned, it's all done and over with. Hopefully, his probation will teach him to be more humble and less manipulative."

"Hopefully," Koushiro echoed, though the distant look in his eyes indicated that his thoughts were leaving to ponder something else.

Yamato shifted on his feet. "Yeah," Yamato said, unsure of what else to say while Koushiro was preoccupied with his thoughts. Thankfully, his phone began to buzz in his pocket then, and Yamato fished it out. "Hello?" he asked.

"Yo, Ishida. It's me."

"Akira." Yamato smiled, hearing his band mate's voice. "Just the man I was waiting to hear from." The door to the room opened and Yamato paused to wave hello to Hayate as the boy edged into the room quietly. Hayate waved back, and Koushiro broke out of his reverie. Once the two boys struck up conversation, Yamato moved to the far side of the room so that he could speak with Akira. "What's new?"

"Just got off the phone with Yutaka and Takahashi. We've been talking about that gig thing that you called us about yesterday."

Yamato prompted, "And the final verdict is?"

"You can pretty much count the rest of the WOLVES in. Takahashi's not crazy-thrilled about doing a mainstream show – you know him, he prefers the underground club scene, so that's nothing new - but Yutaka and I are cool with it. You sounded psyched about performing, so we'll back you up. Not a problem."

"Do me a favor and cheer Takahashi up, will you?" Yamato said, unable to suppress a grin at his band mate's antics. "The last thing we need is for him to 'accidentally' push up the tempo of the song again. Remember?"

"Oh, _man_!" Akira groaned. "Don't remind me! Dude's a pain in the ass to deal with when he's pissed. His drumming picks up twenty-four beats faster than normal, easy. You 'n me got blisters from trying to keep up with him that one time, and even Yutaka was complaining about getting carpal tunnel or something."

They shared a laugh. "Let's try to stop that from happening again, all right?" Yamato said. "Anyway, I hope that you guys have been practicing without me. I don't want us to sound out of sync when we perform."

"No worries, boss man. We've been having a few jam sessions to keep us busy," Akira said reassuringly. "We've got some new tricks up our sleeves to show you. Hey, what if we headed up to your camp to practice with you? Maybe today or tomorrow? Since you won't to sneak out to visit us, we'll come to you instead."

Yamato rolled his eyes at Akira's friendly jab. "You know why I can't sneak out. I'd get into trouble with the camp leaders if I got caught, and I'd rather avoid the drama and lectures that would come if that happened," he reminded Akira patiently. "Anyway, if you guys decide to come here, give me a heads up, okay? So I can save us a practice room in the music cabin."

"They have drums and pianos, yeah?" Akira asked to double-check. "Don't think that Takahashi and Yutaka – Takahashi 'specially, though - would be too happy if they have to move their stuff back and forth."

"Don't worry about it," Yamato reassured. "The music room has everything we need." He paused, a memory of his first few days at camp rising up in his mind and making him wince. "Just… try to make sure that you guys slip past the other students without being seen, okay?" Yamato said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefingers as he remembered the frustration he had felt after his fans had caused that rift between him and Sora. "The last thing I want at this point in camp is for the hype of the WOLVES to come back to haunt me again."

Akira laughed. "You need to lighten up," he responded to Yamato. "Having a fan following is one of the perks of being a musician. You should know! You had those girls following you around a few years ago, remember? With that one chick – what's her face – Jun!"

Yamato nearly dropped his cell phone. "You know, if you wanted to remind me about the 'perks' of having fans, bringing up Jun is not a good way to go," Yamato said, exasperated, when he got a steady hold on his phone again.

Akira snickered on the other end of the line. "I guess so! Nice to see that I can still frazzle the unshakable Ishida, eh?" He paused. "Okay, I'll try and remember to tell the guys that we have to get to your camp all covert and incognito. Should we wear shades and fake mustaches too?"

"If you can," Yamato agreed. "Look, I gotta go and let my teacher know that you guys said yes, then. I'll catch you later, man. Give me a call when you come, okay?"

"Yessir. See you later, gator."

"So the rest of the WOLVES are coming up to camp at lunch, huh?" Taichi spoke up, making Yamato almost drop his cell phone in surprise again as he was about to close it. Apparently, he'd come back from his shower and slipped back into the room without Yamato noticing. "Why didn't you say anything about it before?" Taichi pressed on.

Yamato shot a glare at the brunet for startling him. "I forgot. I was preoccupied yesterday, after all, with other stuff. And thanks for listening in on my conversation," Yamato added sarcastically.

Taichi ignored Yamato's sarcasm and asked tightly, "Are they coming today?"

"Maybe. If they feel like it." Yamato checked his pockets to make sure that he had everything he needed to leave. "It's up to them. They'll call me if they come." He paused sourly. "Not that I can see why it's any of _your _business."

"Uh huh." Taichi was silent before he said sharply, "Well, whatever you do, just make sure that they stay focused. You know that your band mates like attention. If they do get seen, they're not going to be in a hurry to get away, you know."

Yamato bristled at Taichi's commanding tone. "What's with you? Last time I checked, Taichi, the TEEN-AGE WOLVES were _my_ band. Not yours." He hefted his bass up so that it was slung comfortably over his shoulder. Yamato lowered his voice so that Hayate wouldn't hear, "You're my leader when it comes to the Digimon and the Chosen, Taichi. I stopped fighting that a long time ago. But I don't take orders for you when my band is concerned. Let's keep that straight, shall we?"

Taichi's jaw became strained. "Your band becomes my business," he said just as lowly, "when it affects the other Chosen too."

Both boys knew who Taichi was silently referring to. A few beats of silence passed. Yamato's hands curled into fists subconsciously as he answered coolly, "You don't have enough faith in her. She doesn't need you to protect her – she's strong enough to handle it on her own, now."

"Just because she's strong enough to handle it doesn't mean that she should have to suffer from it," Taichi replied just as calmly, though his eyes blazed with restrained anger. "Just watch it, Yamato. I want to believe that you guys are good, now, but you brushing this off like it's not a big deal –"

"Because it's _not_," Yamato interrupted crisply. "Stop making issues out of nothing. I'm leaving," Yamato raised his voice now, turning to address Hayate and Koushiro too. "I'll meet you guys later at lunch, okay?"

"You're not coming to breakfast with us?" Hayate spoke up, puzzled. "Why not?" Koushiro didn't say anything, merely flicked his eyes back and forth between Taichi and Yamato before rubbing his chin in obvious contemplation.

Yamato ignored both Koushiro and Taichi to focus his attention on Hayate. He gave what he hoped was an enigmatic smile. "Stuff to do and not enough time to do it. I'm not hungry anyway. It would be more productive for me if I just head over to the music room now to get some work done before class starts." He crossed the room to get to the door before the opportunity for Koushiro to remark on the tension in the room presented itself. "See you all later."

* * *

Kayo's finger rolled back and forth in a tightly controlled vibrato and she lifted the bow from her string in a flourish. She held it, pausing over the strings for a moment, before relaxing her shoulders and smiling up at Kosuke. "What did you think?" she asked him, the desire for approval mixed with obvious satisfaction at her playing evident in her voice.

But Kosuke was not impressed. He shook his head sharply. "Again."

Kayo's mouth dropped open with a soft pop. Her fingers twitched slightly as she recoiled, momentarily insulted and hurt, before she recovered, lifting her chin. "Can I ask what I did wrong?"

_Idiot_. Kosuke waved a disregarding hand. "It was completely unacceptable. Horrible posture, for one," Kayo straightened in her seat guiltily, "and really, the phrasing of the solo is all wrong when compared to the surrounding measures. Again," Kosuke repeated, this time not so coolly.

She bent her head, blinking rapidly for a moment, before she lifted her bow to play again with new energy.

While his ears listened to Kayo play, cataloguing her mistakes, Kosuke's mind wandered to his recent disgrace. He scowled.

Against his better judgment, Kosuke had allowed himself to be persuaded by his followers to go to dinner the night before instead of skipping the meal entirely. He had bypassed lunch after Manami had made her announcement about his probation. He knew fully well that the gossiping musicians of orchestra would probably be spreading the news wide and far during the meal, and the situation would only be exacerbated by Kosuke's presence. But his followers had managed to reason with him that the gossip would have surely died down once the afternoon break arrived and that there would be no harm in coming to dinner. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

They had forgotten to take into account the natural tendency of teenagers to over-exaggerate and hyperbolize gossip to make their day a little bit more interesting. A week of camp had already dulled the initial excitement of a new crowd of people to socialize with, and they were all looking for something new to discuss and dissect vicariously. Camp flings were commonplace, and no longer worth discussing. But a scandal between Kosuke, a somewhat renown musician, and Ishida, the 'celebrity'? That, evidently, warranted the attention equivalent to a tabloid front cover. And the details of the gossip only heightened with the passage of the afternoon, instead of dulling as Kosuke had hoped.

Kosuke didn't mind the attention he garnered from other people when it was for something that he had worked hard on and was proud of, like his performances and other accomplishments. But for something as shameful as being put on musical probation? It made him furious – he'd given more than a few death glares the night before when he locked eyes with a too-curious peer who needed to mind their own business.

Rather than undergo a repeat of last night's dinner, Kosuke decided to bypass the process of being the subject of everyone's attention for yet another meal by going to the music room in the morning with Kayo, who had asked for his help to evaluate her solo. Manami willingly opened the music cabin for them to practice in while she worked in her office, and though it was obvious that he was no longer on the teacher's good side (not that he needed it), she hadn't commented on his probation. For that, Kosuke was marginally glad; he was still concertmaster, regardless of his current status of shame. And he was determined to take the opportunity for more individual practice time for what it was worth and polish his music to a state of perfection – thereby shaming everyone for daring to choose Ishida's side over his –

The music door suddenly swung open, and Kosuke's lip curled into a disgusted grimace when Ishida himself stepped into the room. The two locked eyes for a moment before Ishida rolled his eyes and strutted across the floor to Manami's office. He knocked on the door and opened it a crack. "Manami?"

"Ah, Yamato. Just the person I wanted to see," Kosuke heard the teacher say warmly. "Do you have your band's answer for me?"

Kosuke froze as Yamato paused significantly, drawing out the suspense. "They just called a few minutes ago to confirm with me. The TEEN-AGE WOLVES will perform on Friday and give a stellar performance," he answered the teacher finally, and Kosuke growled under his breath after hearing the smug tone of voice that the bassist used. The tone must have escaped Manami's attention, however, for she only invited Ishida to step inside her office so that they could discuss the details of the performance. When Ishida turned around to close the door and saw that Kosuke was watching him, the concertmaster watched as the makings of a smug smile spread across his rival's face as he closed the door purposefully.

"Kosuke?"

He turned his head and glared at Kayo for her curious glance. "Again!" he snapped at her. She swallowed and bit her lip but obediently began to play again. This time, though, Kosuke wasn't listening to the music of her cello. Instead, his ears were roaring with the sound of his blood pounding in his head, a steady drum of rage and disgust.

He would have his revenge, whether Ishida was ready for it or not.

_All I need_, Kosuke mused darkly as he watched Kayo play, _is to figure out what Ishida's greatest weakness is - and strike when he least expects it._

* * *

"And... done!" Koushiro handed the laptop to Hayate, a triumphant smile on his face after managing to figure out the glitch and recode the trouble area. "Here you go. Take a look at it and see if that will run everything more smoothly."

"Let me see," Hayate said as he took his laptop back. His fingers moved over the keyboard, tapping out a few commands. After a moment, he nodded, a wide smile beginning to form on his face. "Impressive, my friend. I think this solves all of the errors that I found earlier. Nicely done."

"That was my intention." Koushiro nodded happily as he turned his attention back to his own laptop. "Test it out a while longer. Like I said before, the programming worked fine on my PiBook, but it's obviously not one hundred percent compatible with your Dell. There might still be even more problems waiting to be found."

"All right."

Both boys focused their attention back on their laptops and descended back into comfortable silence as they worked on their respective programs. Koushiro was pleased with the progress they had made. Given perhaps maybe a few more hours, their program for Friday's display had the strong possibility of being all finished – the honor of being the first ones done would be theirs too. And while Koushiro wasn't normally a competitive person, when it came to computers, the challenge of being the best had an irresistible lure.

The engineering class had planned, under Masaru's instruction, to put their programming skills to use in a way that would entertain the other students and visitors on Friday with a performance of sorts. The class would be building and programming robotic toy vehicles that would struggle their way through an obstacle course that Masaru was secretly setting up on the camp grounds. It was a task that had immediately set Koushiro's mind whirling with ideas of motion sensors and scanning capabilities, and he'd naturally teamed up with Hayate to build a super car that would be able to navigate its way through Masaru's obstacle without the need for remote controls.

Of course, the competition from the other programmers would be tough. Koushiro didn't doubt the abilities of his classmates, and knew better than to underestimate their ingenuity. But having opponents only increased Koushiro's drive to do the absolute best that he could to ensure that his and Hayate's design would come out on top.

But as he waited for the computer to run more tests, Koushiro frowned when he remembered the tension that morning in the cabin that between Taichi and Yamato. It had been a while since the both of them had faced off in such a manner, but it still made Koushiro uncomfortable as he had been that first time they'd thrown punches at each other all those years ago. No 'victor' had emerged from this particular confrontation, but knowing them as Koushiro did, he suspected that the problem would all come to head within the next few days.

From what little he knew, Koushiro understood that the issue between them had probably stemmed from the prospect of an appearance by the TEEN-AGE WOLVES. And though he was loathe to choose sides, judging from past encounters with that particular band and taking into account that they always seemed to serve as a catalyst for trouble within the group of Chosen, Koushiro had a haunting feeling that Taichi's worries were probably more justified than Yamato gave credit to.

Before he could dwell on the predicament further, though, a series of knocks interrupted the relative quiet of the computer cabin. Koushiro paused in what he was doing to watch curiously for a moment as Masaru got up to answer the door. "Ran," he said, surprised, when he saw the camp's head counselor standing just outside the entryway. "What can I do for you?"

The two adults fell into a quiet discussion, and, not wanting to eavesdrop, Koushiro turned his attention back to his laptop, which had finished running his check for glaring mistakes that he might have made. Now, time for the tedious part: going back to double-check the codes manually, to pick up on the errors that the computer might have overlooked.

"Koushiro," Hayate whispered, the other boy elbowing Koushiro in the ribs gently. Koushiro looked up, puzzled.

"Huh? What?"

"Weren't you listening?" Hayate asked, puzzled. He inclined his head to the cabin entrance, where Masaru and Ran were still standing and looking at the students. "Ran needs some people to help her go around camp and ask teachers what they're doing for Friday, and Masaru just called out if anyone was far enough ahead in their programming to take a break and help out." Hayate paused and said plaintively in his unfailingly polite way, "I'd like to give her a hand."

Koushiro nodded. "Then I'll come with you." They both shut down their laptops and, after packing them carefully away in their backpacks, stood up. "We'd like to help out," Koushiro offered as the two boys approached Masaru's side by the door. They both bowed in greeting to Ran, who nodded back. Koushiro looked back at Masaru. "If that's all right with you, sir. Hayate and I are almost done."

"And we know where a few of the buildings already are because of our other friends," Hayate appealed shyly to Ran, "so we can work efficiently if you tell us what to do and where to go, ma'am."

"That sounds great." Ran smiled warmly back at them both. She glanced over at Masaru. "You don't mind, do you?"

Masaru shook his head. "Of course not."

"Wonderful." Ran handed one of the clipboards under her arm to Hayate. "Which classroom area are you most familiar with?"

"Well, we know the rooms on the southwest side of the campsite pretty well, since it's near our cabin," Hayate said after a moment of consideration. Koushiro grinned at that. "If – if you want, we can take care of that section."

"Yes, that sounds good," Ran said, nodding in a business-like manner. She handed another clipboard to Koushiro, and he looked it over carefully. "Go on ahead and try to get all the classrooms there. As soon as you're done – probably when lunch starts – you can give the clipboards back to me in the dining hall."

"Yes ma'am." Koushiro and Hayate both bowed to the adults before exited the cabin and heading down the worn forest path.

They walked with purposeful silence for a while as they went to the nearest classroom in the southwest side of the campsite. The southwest camp area consisted of the business class (which was the reason why Koushiro was glad that Hayate mentioned to Ran that they knew that particular area best; it meant that they would be able to find out what Taichi's class was going to be doing for Friday), a political science class, and a several language classrooms as well. When they reached the first cabin, Hayate knocked on the door and Koushiro took care of talking to the teacher personally.

As it happened, most of the teachers willingly divulged the secret of their Friday projects to Koushiro and Hayate much more easily than their students would have done in the same situation. Koushiro figured the teachers' ease with telling them must have been because he and Hayate looked so responsible and trustworthy – a compliment, to be sure. In any case, this allowed them to go through each of the classrooms quickly. Most of their time was spent walking from one class to the next, because the cabins were spread rather far apart from each other. It was on their walk to the business cabin when Hayate said, "Koushiro? I've been meaning to ask you something."

Koushiro gave pause at the hesitation he heard in Hayate's voice, his curiosity piqued. "What is it?" Koushiro asked, turning to look at the other boy.

Hayate steadfastly avoided Koushiro's gaze, though. "It's about Yamato." They walked on a bit further. "You know how he's been having a hard time with orchestra lately?"

"Yes," Koushiro said slowly, wondering where Hayate was going with this conversation. "What about it?"

"I was wondering… If the class is being so difficult, why hasn't Yamato just quit his class already and joined something else?" Hayate blurted out. "If I were him, I would have left a long time ago. When Kosuke started to bully him. But he's still there, still going to class early and spending hours practicing for it. I just don't understand."

Koushiro raised an eyebrow. "You do understand that I can't really say why exactly Yamato has not acted in such a fashion since I'm not him, right?"

"Well, yes," Hayate admitted, coloring slightly. "But I'd like to hear your insight. I don't think that Yamato would like it if I asked him, but I know that you would explain it to me."

Koushiro shrugged as they continued walking. "You're right; Yamato probably wouldn't want to elaborate on that subject." A few steps further. "The thought of dropping the class altogether has probably already occurred to Yamato before," Koushiro began to speculate aloud, "but I think that Yamato would not want to make the decision to drop his class rashly, without weighing all his options first. You have to understand that, up until now, he has very much assumed that music was _the _path of his future career. He'd had no reason to doubt it. His band, though only of indie fame, is becoming a force to be reckoned with in certain musical circles and the bond between the members of the TEEN-AGE WOLVES continues to be as strong as ever. As far as music was concerned, Yamato knew that he enjoyed playing it and that it was something he was good at. It only made sense to believe that it would be his future.

"But, obviously, camp has shown in this past week that music is not exactly always easy and enjoyable. He's learned that it comes with a fair share of effort and I suppose even pain, in some cases. It's not at all turning out to be the way he assumed it would be, to work with other musicians on a professional setting." Koushiro tapped his chin thoughtfully with the top of the clipboard. "Even so, I suspect that he wants to wait until camp is over – after he is able to experience the class completely and have some time to consider if he truly doesn't want to major in music any longer - before he starts to ponder about other alternative careers. Just in case."

"I see," Hayate said, nodding slowly as he digested all of this. "That does make a lot of sense, when you put it that way."

"Yamato and I are alike in that regard," Koushiro remarked when the business cabin finally came into sight. "Everything that we do must be carefully considered, ever angle pondered, before we make a decision. That way, we won't end up regretting our course of action later on, after we have some time to reflect back on it."

Hayate smiled briefly. "Unlike some other of the other people that we know in our acquaintance, you mean?" he asked lightly

"If you are talking about Taichi and Kohei, then I must reiterate that great minds think alike," Koushiro said with a laugh. He raised an eyebrow at Hayate. "I wonder how they'll react when they see us arriving in their business class, demanding to know their task for Friday will be."

"I think that Taichi will be outraged that their secret will no longer be kept," Hayate guessed, "especially because he still does not know about what our project is about."

"He'll complain about the injustice for sure, since he does tend to theatrically overreact in order to make other people laugh," Koushiro agreed before he sighed when he heard his stomach rumble. "All right. Business is the last cabin in this area, right? I'm starting to get hungry."

Hayate checked the map of camp attached to the front of his clipboard. "Yes, the business class is the last one in this area. I wonder if Ran managed to finish getting all the other cabins?"

"Probably. There were a lot of other people in our class today who were progressing rather quickly…" Koushiro trailed off as he stepped up to knock on the business cabin door. After a moment, the door opened and Kiku was looking back at the boys, surprised, with a pretty blonde girl with a quizzical expression on her face and an apron tied around her waist standing next to their friend. "Koushiro? Hayate? What are you guys doing here?" Kiku asked confusedly.

"We need to talk to," Koushiro checked the sheet and looked back up, "Hiroyuki, your business teacher, please."

Kiku raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"Counselor Ran sent us," Hayate supplied.

"Oh all right." Kiku sighed resignedly. She turned to the girl at her side. "Umeko, will you go and get Hiroyuki and let him know that these two are here?" The blonde nodded and went to go look for the teacher. As soon as the girl was out of ear shot, the two computer programmers looked at each other to share a glance.

"Since when did business class require doing anything dirty?" Koushiro asked Kiku when he turned back to look at the girl. "What are you all doing in there?"

Kiku looked confused again. "What are you talking about?"

"That girl was wearing an apron," Hayate said slowly, deep in thought. "Are you guys, by any chance, collaborating with another class?"

"Not bad, Hayate," Kiku said, impressed. "Actually, yeah, we are." She stopped, noticing someone approaching, and said, "Hiroyuki's coming now."

A tall man with bleached blond hair soon joined them by the door, and he regarded the two boys over his glasses with friendly curiosity. "Can I help you?" he directed toward them.

"Yes, sir," Koushiro said immediately, propping up his camp clipboard at an angle so that he could write. "Counselor Ran asked us to go around to the classrooms to get a listing of what each class is intending to do for Friday's event."

"Oh, I see." Hiroyuki nodded, accepting their explanation easily. "Well, for Friday, my business class is working in a collaboration with Miss Hoshi's culinary arts class. Her class is going to cook up snacks and desserts, and my business class is going to be helping them to sell the food. All the money we raise will go back to reimbursing the kids for the supplies that they're going to buy."

"That sounds like a good idea," Koushiro remarked as he scribbled it down on the clipboard. When he was done writing, he bowed to Hiroyuki. "Thank you for your cooperation, sir."

"Not a problem at all."

"Are you guys all done, now?" Kiku asked as Hiroyuki excused himself to go work on something with Miss Hoshi.

Hayate nodded. "We should probably get these results back to Ran now, right?" he asked Koushiro.

"Why don't you come in and hang out with us for a bit?" Kiku suggested instead. "The lunch bell will ring in about five minutes, and if you stay, we can all walk to the dining hall together."

Koushiro and Hayate exchanged a glance with each other. "Well, I guess that would be all right," Koushiro said after a moment.

Kiku smiled brightly. "Come in!" She opened the door to the classroom further, and Koushiro and Hayate walked inside, following her lead.

The business classroom was roughly the same size as the computer engineering class, but because of the fact that there were two classes inside, it was much more crowded and substantially noisier. They were all sitting in smaller groupings, however, of about six to seven people each, and Kiku led them to a corner not far from the door. "Look who came to visit us," she announced as soon as they were close enough to the group for them to hear. Koushiro and Hayate waved at the group, which consisted of Taichi, Kohei, a boy with dark green hair, and the girl who had come with Kiku to the door earlier.

"Hey, guys!" Kohei said with a wide grin. "Ditched your classes, huh? Didn't know you had a rebellious streak in you! I'm shocked!"

"Of course not!" Hayate protested. "Ran needed some volunteers to help her around camp, and Masaru let us go to lend her a hand."

"Ah, of course. Bad of me to suspect _you _of bad behavior," Kohei joked. Kiku giggled as she took her chair next to him. "Sorry 'bout that, Hayate."

"What kind of volunteer work were you doing?" Taichi asked curiously.

"Ran sent us around to classrooms to get a list of what different classes are planning to do for Friday. Business was our last class," Koushiro said, his face still, revealing nothing. Slowly, it dawned on Taichi what that meant, and Koushiro finally had to laugh at the disgruntled expression on Taichi's face. "You're upset that we figured out what you guys were doing, aren't you?" Koushiro teased.

"Of course I am!" Taichi said in mock-indignation. "It's not fair that you guys know what we're doing, but no one knows what you engineering students are planning." He crossed his arms and huffed, just as Koushiro predicted he would.

Rather than incite pity for his situation, Taichi's actions only made Kiku and Kohei both laugh, and even Hayate turned away so that Taichi wouldn't see him struggling not to laugh as well. Koushiro only smiled innocently. Taichi shot dirty looks back at his friends. "Ugh. Forget you guys," he declared with a roll of his eyes. "At least now I know how much I'm appreciated around here." Taichi glanced at the boy with dark green hair sitting next to him and gave a start, making him change the topic. "Crap! Where are our manners?" Taichi motioned his hand toward the boy and girl. "Koushiro, Hayate, meet our culinary partners for our project, Eiji and Umeko." Koushiro and Hayate nodded hello, and the two strangers smiled politely back. Taichi went on with his explanation. "These two specialize in making daifuku."

"They're really, really good," Kohei interjected, grinning widely. "We went back to the city just this morning to test response to the snacks, and Eiji and Umeko couldn't make the daifuku fast enough. Kiku had to help them make some more of the red bean paste, and even then we were running out pretty fast."

"That's good then. Perhaps you'll make a lot of money with that daifuku on Friday," Hayate said, smiling shyly at the newcomers.

Taichi shrugged, stretching his arms above his head and his legs out in front of him. "Honestly though, we have no idea. We sold them out pretty fast, but they're also relatively cheap. I don't know if we'll make actually make a big enough profit to be considered a success."

The bell rang then, and Koushiro moved out of the way as they all got up to clean up their things before leaving to go to lunch. "Do you guys want to meet up during break, to discuss some strategies on how we can be more efficient tomorrow?" Eiji suggested as they pushed their chairs out of the way so that the floor was clear.

"Sounds good," Taichi said approvingly, checking quickly with Kiku and Kohei. "We'll meet you guys in the clearing near the makeshift soccer field at two?"

"That's fine. We'll see you later," Umeko agreed readily. She added politely with a small smile, "Nice to meet you, Koushiro, Hayate."

"Nice to meet you too," Koushiro responded with a nod. He watched as the two culinary students left to go join their other friends and then followed his own group toward the door. "They seem like friendly people," Koushiro remarked to Taichi as they walked together outside of the cabin.

Taichi nodded. "Yeah, I guess," he replied distractedly as he pushed his hair out of face.

"You look worried, Taichi," Koushiro noted, looking up curiously at his friend. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh oh. I know that face," Kiku cut in as she slid into place between Taichi and Koushiro. "You know what it means, when he gets that _look_?" she asked Koushiro conspiratorially in a stage-whisper. "When Taichi starts dazing off like that, you _know_ that he's already, like, thinking about food. His body's here, but his mind's a thousand miles away!"

Before he could answer to that, Koushiro's stomach chose that moment to rumble again loudly. Pressing a hand to his abdomen, Koushiro chuckled and smiled deprecatingly. "And for once, I don't blame him! Let's hurry up and eat some food."

* * *

The bell echoed loudly in the relatively empty dining hall, startling the artists working on the mural. "Time for lunch, guys," Paul stated with a quick glance at the clock on the wall. "Let's break and come back to work on this later. Good job this morning."

At Paul's words, Sora bent over to quickly clean up her area of the mural to make it tidy again, minimizing the chance of a careless passerby accidentally knocking one of her things over. She was just straightening up when she noticed Paul waiting for her. "Is there something you need?" Sora asked as she wiped her hands on a towel to rub the paint off of them.

"Just wondering if you'll be eating lunch with us today again," Paul said easily. He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "I've gotten used to have another sane person hanging out with us. Without you around, Linda and Yuu's bickering is worse than I remember it being."

Sora laughed quietly at that. "Well, I was planning to eat with my other friends today for lunch," she said after a moment of being torn. Sora really did enjoy sitting with the artists but… well, if she was going to be honest with herself, she really wanted to sit with Yamato for lunch. She suppressed the urge to blush at the thought and covered it up by smiling back at Paul. "How about dinner instead?"

Paul agreed readily, "Okay." He saluted her with his paintbrush. "Catch you later, then."

After the exchange, Sora noticed that the mess hall was starting to fill slowly with students as they trickled in from their class, so she quickly went to the food line before it got any longer to pick up her lunch and then walk leisurely back to her group's table. She knew it would be a while before everyone else arrived, so she ate her food slowly as she waited for the others, her eyes scanning the faces of the students as the stream of them began to steadily increase.

While she waited, her thoughts flickered back to her conversation with Paul. This time, with no one around to watch her, Sora's cheeks heated freely. It wasn't with embarrassment that she blushed, though; it was more like a subdued giddiness that caused her pulse to quicken and her palms to tingle with anticipation. What had almost come to pass between them yesterday afternoon, the forest - well, the memory of it alone was enough to make Sora extremely distracted while she painted, both after she left Yamato in the forest to work and that very morning during class. She'd daydreamed and relived the moment several times in the past day, and it still unnerved her that she could recount the exact look on Yamato's face with startling clarity as he'd slowly leaned in, her eyes drifting from his heavy lids to his steadily approaching lips -

Sora cursed silently to herself and shook her head. There she went again! The way she was acting made her want to kick herself. She couldn't believe that she was acting like an infatuated teenager. This was _Yamato _who she was thinking about – the guy she'd just spent the better part of the year trying to get over, the guy who'd caused her more grief than she was willing to relive. She had to remember that before anything else. He could just as easily make her feel wanted and cared for as he could make her feel rejected and alienated. Sora reminded herself of that fact. He had just unsettled her yesterday; that was all. It wasn't as if Sora hoped that she and Yamato would get back together or anything like that. She simply hadn't expected him to move in closer to her like that, hadn't expected him to look at her with those intense blue eyes that melted her resolve and -

She caught herself again, and this time Sora groaned aloud. Who was she kidding? If she had learned anything at camp (besides the fact that she enjoyed art enough to perhaps pursue it professionally), it had to at least be that her feelings for Yamato were still by far sensitive to his influence. She was nowhere near as hardened and indifferent to him as she had used to think, no matter how many times she tried to delude herself otherwise.

All it took was for him to look at her. Just once. And like that, Sora's willpower would evaporate into thin air, leaving her completely vulnerable to Yamato again. Even after everything that had happened between them, Sora still cared for him. Nothing had changed.

She closed her eyes in frustration and kneaded her forehead to prevent the headache she felt was on its way. She cared for Yamato still; Sora could admit that much to herself. She simply had to accept as a fact that she still had feelings for him, because it was clear to her now that she still hadn't gotten over him. And she could live with that.

But as far as the possibility of renewing their relationship – well, Sora's memory was still long and bitter. No matter how Yamato was acting toward her now, Sora had to remind herself that Yamato was very much capable of hurting her again, whether it be intentionally done or not.

Guys like Yamato never changed. She _had_ to remember that, if she wanted to avoid having her heart crushed again.

"Hi Sora!" Sora opened her eyes when she heard Kiku's voice. She felt relieved; the timely arrival of the rest of her business and engineering friends gave her an excuse to take her mind momentarily off of Yamato. For the moment, anyway. "How was your day?" Kiku continued, taking the seat next to Sora. "You looked pretty tired for a moment, there."

Sora shook her head. "It's not a big deal; I'm just tired out from painting all morning long. What about you guys?" she asked, turning slightly to Taichi as he took the seat on her other side.

Taichi shrugged as he set down his tray to eat. "It was pretty busy. We went back into the city for most of the morning to get our business task done. When we came back, Koushiro and Hayate stopped by to visit for a few minutes. And then we all walked to lunch together. I _would _tell you more," Taichi continued teasingly, "but since it all has to do with Friday night, I really can't." He mimed zipping his lips before he open his mouth wide to devour his sandwich.

Sora watched him for a moment before shaking her head. "Disgusting." She sighed resignedly as she glanced at Kiku. "I forgot that you guys are all supposed to be secretive about your performances." Sora looked at Kiku thoughtfully. "Can't you give me just a little hint?"

"Nope." Kiku shook his head vigorously, her hair flying around in every which way. "Not even, like, a _little_ one. Or else," Kiku paused to draw a line dramatically across her neck and crossed her eyes, "I'll be killed me. And you don't want that, do you Sora?"

"Well, now that you mention it," Sora trailed off as if in contemplation, though she laughed out loud when Kiku responded by pulling a tragically sad face. "Of course I wouldn't want that! What would I do without you, Kiku? Who else could I possibly rely on to help me find the hottest guys around?"

Taichi pretended as if he was about to gag after hearing Sora's statement, while Kiku pretended to wipe the sweat off of her forehead, evidently relieved. "Oh, good," Kiku said with a contented sigh, "I was getting worried, for a moment there."

"Worried about what?"

"Oh, hey Yamato!" Kiku exclaimed, unable to stop a smile from spreading across her face as he approached the table, Wakana and Susumu following not far behind him. "It's been a while since you've, like, come to eat with us. Where've you been?" Kiku demanded good-naturedly.

Yamato shook his head. "Around," he said vaguely, smiling briefly at Sora as he stopped to stand between both girls. "Sorry I didn't stop by to say hi at breakfast, I had some stuff to take care of in music."

Sora shrugged easily, though she felt better after hearing his explanation. A part of her had wondered if he'd chosen not to make an appearance because he too was having second thoughts about what nearly transpired in the forest; his words and relative proximity to her now soothed her trepidation. "It's okay. We understand."

"Where are you going, Taichi?" Kiku asked suddenly. Sora swiveled back in her seat to see Taichi picking up his tray and getting out of his seat. "You're not leaving already, are you? You're not even done eating yet -"

"I'm just gonna go sit with Kohei," Taichi cut Kiku off crisply. "Soccer stuff." Sora heard an uncharacteristic current of irritation underneath Taichi's words, and it made her frown. What could have possibly annoyed easy-going and cheerful Taichi? Nothing had happened since he'd sat down for lunch: they'd talked briefly with Kiku, making idle small talk, and then Yamato had arrived to the table to talk to the girls -

_Ah,_ Sora thought, a realization dawning on her. Maybe the guys were fighting about something. It wouldn't be the first time that Taichi and Yamato were pointedly ignoring each other over something that was a typically male issue. Her best friend glanced at Yamato now and the two shared a wordless stare that left Taichi marginally more frustrated and Yamato - Sora glanced up at the blond to check - slightly amused when they looked away. "Well, okay," Sora said finally to break the short silence, nodding at Taichi. "Go on."

Taichi left without another word to the other side of the table, and Yamato took Taichi's now deserted chair. "What?" he asked when he noticed that Sora was staring at him. "Did I do something?"

Sora shook her head and exchanged a glance with Kiku. _Boys_. "Never mind that," Sora said when she turned back to look at Yamato, unable to stop a small smile from tugging at the corner of her lips at his purposefully innocent expression. Her gaze slid to his left cheek and back to his eyes. "The swelling's gone down. Does it feel better today?"

"Yeah." Yamato reached up and poked at his cheek, as if to demonstrate for them visually. "It doesn't hurt at all anymore. I guess that ice helped after all," he teased Sora.

She rolled her eyes. "Imagine that."

"It's good to hear you're all better now, Yamato," Kiku said brightly. "And how was music class today? Better, now that Kosuke's, like, out of the equation?"

"It was all right, I guess." Yamato gripped the edge of his chair to angle it toward the girls so that he could speak with them more easily, his knee brushing momentarily against Sora's. "It was quieter than most days, since Kosuke was away sulking in the practice rooms," he continued, "but it was also kind of distracting. People were staring at me."

Sora pointed to his cheek. "Because of what Kosuke did to you?"

Yamato nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, pretty much. I think most of them were skeptical, yesterday. They didn't believe Seiichi when he told Manami about what happened, since he tends to overreact over stuff. So I guess they were surprised when they saw me." He laughed humorlessly. "It's real proof that their concertmaster is not as great as they thought he was."

Kiku snickered. "What an understatement. From the sound of things, the guy's, like, a self-righteous little pain in the butt," she remarked. Sora crossed her legs uncomfortably at Kiku's words, remembering the somewhat polite encounter she'd had when she spoke to Kosuke for the first time. Kiku went on, exclaiming, "I can't believe it took your orchestra _this _long to figure out that he's, like, practically evil."

Yamato shook his head, waving aside Kiku's supportive but biased declaration. "Well, not everyone in the orchestra had Kosuke on their case," Yamato reminded. "For nearly everyone else, he just ignored them if they weren't in his group of followers." He grinned and said lightly, "Very few are deigned by Kosuke to be worthy enough to have his special attention bestowed upon, you know. Wakana and I just happened to be lucky enough to be a part of that selective, _elite_ group."

Kiku laughed again mirthfully, and Sora shook her head, unable to react in any other way to Yamato's ridiculousness. "You're unbelievable," she scolded him.

"In only a good way, I hope," Yamato replied solemnly. He shook his head. "Anyway, enough about me. How was your morning, Kiku?"

"It was good," she replied mysteriously. "Planning for Friday is going along pretty smoothly."

Sora leaned forward to say in an aside to Yamato, "Don't try to ask for more details if you're curious because you won't be getting any. I already tried," she admitted ruefully under Yamato's raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I see." He chuckled. "Well, I won't be bugging you about it, then, since I'm sure you're pretty much sick of hearing the same question over and over again," Yamato told Kiku. She nodded gratefully, and then Yamato turned his blue eyes on to Sora. "And how was your morning?" he asked her. "The mural looks like it's coming along pretty well."

"Thanks." Sora sighed at the mention of the vast wall looming behind her - at least, it felt like it was looming, and began to elaborate for him. "We finally started putting the base coat of paint down on it this morning. Since it's acrylics, it should be dry by the time lunch is over. And we're hoping that, if we keep moving at this rate, we'll be done by either Thursday afternoon or night, depending on if we decide to make the mural more detailed or not - "

"Here's what I don't understand," Kiku interrupted, leaning forward on the table. "You're pressed for time to finish by Friday, right? And you, like, have to paint on this humongous wall. Why did you guys choose to do this landscape," she waved her hand emphatically, "that's going to take up a lot of time instead of... I don't know, throwing paint randomly all over it?"

"Art isn't throwing paint randomly on a wall, Kiku," Sora said, exasperated. "Art is about self-expression and interpreting the world around us in a new way. There's nothing 'random' about it."

"Uh huh," Kiku said skeptically, glancing past Sora at Yamato.

He took his cue willingly and intervened. "By the sound of it, you guys have everything under control for finishing it on time. So why do you still look so worried?" Yamato asked her, his eyes intent and searching her face.

Sora hesitated and wet her lips as she thought over her answer. She couldn't exactly be truthful and say that her worries for the past twenty-four hours had more to do with him than he knew, so she decided to give a partial answer to his question. "I guess I've just been distracted by the pressure to do a good job with the mural," Sora said finally. "I mean, we're all pretty worried about finishing it up in time. There are a million things that could go wrong and make it harder for us to complete it by Friday. But I'm also worried about seeing if it'll meet up to Chiasa's standards, and everyone else's expectations."

Yamato nodded slowly as he mulled over her response. "I get where you're coming from. You want to do the best that you can because you're a perfectionist. You don't want to let anyone down. But you're forgetting that you're working with a bunch of other talented people too," Yamato reminded her. "You said so yourself that you couldn't believe the talent that everyone else in your art class has, and that they make you feel intimidated. Right?" Sora nodded. "So in your position, shouldn't you just relax? You're working with all these other great artists, who will make sure that the mural ends up looking amazing. Why stress about getting it done on time when you can just take a step back and learn from the people you're working with?"

"I guess you're right," Sora admitted. "I can't help stressing out over it, though. I - I know I'm not as good as everyone else, but Paul and Kasumi have so much faith in me. I don't want to let them down, you know?"

He glanced quickly around at the people at their table and sitting nearby. Kiku, Sora noticed, had turned to her other side - a while ago, perhaps, Sora wasn't sure when - to talk to Koushiro about something. Once Yamato finished checking to see that no one was listening to their conversation, he leaned in slightly to rest his hand briefly on her wrist. It felt warm, comforting, and awakened an ache in Sora that she was all too familiar with. "You won't let them down," Yamato told Sora seriously, his voice strong and sure and unaware of the effect he was having on her. "You _have_ it in you to be as good as they think you can be. You just need to chill out and give yourself the chance to spread your wings a little."

Unable to trust her voice to speak without breaking, Sora only nodded. He withdrew his hand and leaned back in his seat and smiled at her. "Promise me that you'll relax and enjoy yourself, okay? I'm happy for you, that you've found something you enjoy so much. I don't want to see you get stressed over something you're supposed to be having fun with."

"I can't make a promise for that," Sora said finally, after she found her voice again. She smiled to force herself to lighten up her solitary tension. "But I'll try not to stress myself out over it, if that's enough for you."

"It is." Yamato's returned her smile and crossed his arms across his chest. "Now, something else I've been meaning to ask you about."

Sora's heart thumped that much faster. "Yes?"

Yamato's smile broadened in response to Sora's worried expression and said reassuringly, "Relax, I'm not going to interrogate you or anything like that." He paused, as if thinking of how to phrase his next words. "It's about your new art friends. I haven't had a chance to meet them in person yet since you haven't introduced us, but they look pretty friendly. Are they treating you well?"

It took Sora a few seconds to register that the heavy feeling in her stomach was one of disappointment, but she brushed the sensation aside for the moment to focus on answering Yamato's question before he realized that something was amiss. She began to detail for him the characteristics of her artistic group of friends - mainly Paul, Linda, and Yuu - and Yamato listened attentively, asking her a few questions about them and chuckling after she recounted some of the funny things that the artists did in class and during breaks.

And slowly, she began to relax. Their conversation shifted from her new friends to the museums that she had visited over the weekend, which opened up a new venue of discussion. It had been much too long, Sora realized, since the last time she and Yamato had been able to talk about something that didn't hurt so much to think about - since they could talk as just Sora and Yamato, two friends who had ideas and opinions and interests in common. Discovering this part of their old friendship wasn't what Sora had been looking for, but it made her happy to stumble on it again nonetheless.

They were in the middle of swapping recommendations for movies to watch when Sora started after hearing the sounds of a disturbance near the entrance of the dining hall. Since her seat at the table faced the doors, she noticed that people at the other end of the dining hall were starting to stand up and crowd near the exit. And she might've imagined it, but Sora thought she even heard someone_... _squealing. "What in the world -?" Sora muttered as she craned her neck so that she could try to see what was going on. She asked him distractedly as she searched, "Yamato, do you know what's going on?"

"No, I don't," Yamato replied just as distractedly as he searched for the cause of the commotion. Sora noticed that their friends at the table had also ended their conversations as their attention fell toward the hall entrance. "What do you think it is?" Yamato asked Sora.

"I have no idea."

"Hey, they look familiar," Kohei said suddenly. "Don't they?"

"Who?" Sora asked, confused. She looked at Kohei and, following the line of his gaze, trailed to the forming crowd. People moved and shifted, and a few seconds later, Sora saw who Kohei had been referring to. Her mouth suddenly became dry with shock.

The TEEN-AGE WOLVES had arrived.

Three tall, posturing boys stood in the midst of the jostling crowd, their coolness seeping from them in tangible waves. The trio of black, brown, and dark blond hair was instantly recognizable to Sora. She was all too well-acquainted with them, after all, though the picture was incomplete since Yamato was occupying the seat next to her. In the pit of her stomach, though, Sora knew that that wouldn't be the case for very much longer. Yamato never was very good at being able to stay away from his band mates if they were in the same room as him.

Beside her frozen form, Yamato was straightening up in his seat. "Oh, that's the rest of my band," Yamato said to answer Kohei, his words spoken in a tone mixed with exasperation and amusement that made Sora bite her lip. "I told them to call me if they were coming today so that we could avoid this kind of scene." Yamato lifted his chin at the sizeable crowd that had gathered near the door as he heaved a suffering sigh (that was only theatrical, she knew). "Oh well. I should've known that Akira wouldn't have been able to keep Yutaka from wanting to make an entrance."

Sora couldn't bear to watch the threesome across the hall any longer, nor could she turn to look at Yamato either. Her glance fell then to Taichi, his gaze already locked firmly on her. His jaw was tight with controlled irritation, obviously displeased with Yamato's forthcoming defection, but it was the concerned part of Taichi's eyes as he looked back at her that made the uneasy feeling in Sora's stomach worsen. "Should've known," Taichi echoed bitterly. "Are you going to go hang out with them now?" Taichi directed toward Yamato, fuming quietly.

Yamato would have normally been perceptive enough to hear Taichi's blatant displeasure. To Sora's dismay, however, he was so preoccupied with watching the crowds converge on his band mates that he only nodded vaguely. "Yeah, I might as well, since they're already here. I have a lot of stuff that I need to catch up on with them." He picked up bass, slinging it over his back carefully. "I'll see you guys all later," he told the table at large distractedly before he weaved through the tables to get toward the doors.

For a moment, the table was silent. When Sora finally pulled her eyes away from Taichi, she noticed that everyone was looking at her with varying expressions of pity, concern, and sympathy. The truth dawned on her then - they all knew about her and Yamato, had all gossiped about her tenuous relationship with him behind her back. Shame and embarrassment and raw, painful hurt flooding her completely then, and her cheeks flushed with uncomfortable heat.

_I need to get away from here_, Sora thought desperately, and she stood up, gathering up her things. No one said anything about it, but then the short silence broke. "Sora?" Koushiro asked questioningly, his voice gentle.

"I'll see you guys later," Sora answered, avoiding his question and averting her eyes as she pushed her chair back to the table. "Bye." She strode toward the artists' table quickly, all the while trying to forget the looks that Taichi and Koushiro and Wakana and Hayate and Kiku had given her after Yamato left her behind.

Unfortunately, it ended up haunting her for quite a time longer than what she had wished for.


	10. The Meaning of Protection

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**  
Author's Notes:** Thank you for those returning to another chapter of _Under the Surface_ – your continued support has been phenomenal in helping me resist any ideas of abandoning the story – as well as any newcomers to the audience. Enjoy!

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter X: The Meaning of Protection_

* * *

After lunch, Kohei had convinced Taichi to join the rest of the guys for another game up pick-up soccer. And though Taichi had haltingly agreed, only his body was in the game; his mind wandered elsewhere.

Because, in many ways, Taichi blamed himself for what happened at lunch.

It didn't matter what Yamato insisted; even if the WOLVES weren't a 'real' part of the Chosen, the band's effect on the _rest_ of the Chosen made them every inch a part of Taichi's responsibility too. Aside from making decisions and guiding the way for everyone else when they were actually in the Digital World, it was also Taichi's duty to protect the others and keep them safe, both in the Digital World and in the human world.

_Safe_. Taichi snorted to himself in frustration as he mechanically recieved Koushiro's steal and made a sharp turn toward the opposite end of the field with the soccer ball safely in his control. _That turned out well_… not.

It was easier with the younger Chosen Children to be on guard for trouble and to step into their business if Taichi thought that he was needed. He'd always had a protective streak, if somewhat laid-back for all other people besides Hikari, and that particular trait of his came to the fore naturally in dire situations. But when it came to the older Chosen, Taichi was more hesitant to get involved because he wasn't sure how his interference would be received.

And because of that hesitation, everything got screwed up.

Taichi grit his teeth as he dodged Kohei's attempt to steal the ball from him, weaving through the defense that the other team had hastily constructed in an attempt to stop him.

It was all Taichi's fault. Maybe if he had warned Sora beforehand about the WOLVES, she would have been better prepared to see them and deal with Yamato's latest desertion. Sora could have been with him now, eagerly participating in the soccer game to kick butt by Taichi's side. Maybe if Taichi had taken a stronger stance against the WOLVES' coming to camp, Yamato wouldn't have brushed him off so carelessly; at least then he would have had the decency to feel bad for leaving Sora behind yet again.

But now, thanks to Taichi's reluctance to take matters into his own hands, the both of them were probably going to have another period of icy silences (for him) and heartbreak (for her). The cycle had already begun: Sora was hiding away with the other artists again, and Yamato was probably practicing happily away with his band, oblivious to the hurt he had just dealt to Sora.

Taichi growled, spotting a direct opening that the goalie left unguarded and viciously kicking the ball into the goal, not even paying attention to his teammates as they came up around him afterwards to quickly slap him on the back and compliment him.

Yamato had the reputation of being sensitive to the emotions of others amongst the Chosen, making him a natural and necessary counterpoint to Taichi's reckless, more instinctive leadership. When it came to Sora though – someone who Taichi _assumed_ Yamato would take the most care to be aware of – Yamato just brushed aside her feelings as if they were nothing to him. And whatever else, Taichi just couldn't stomach that kind of blatant disregard for someone else's well-being. It pissed him _off_.

"Whoa, man!" Kohei grabbed Taichi's arm, jolting Taichi out of his thoughts and back into the present. Kohei looked at Taichi, concern plain on his features. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," Taichi scoffed in annoyance, ripping his arm out of Kohei's grasp roughly and crossing his arms. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Kohei subconsciously mirrored Taichi, crossing his arms as well in response to Taichi's hostility. "Just wanted to know why you were acting all moody on the field," he responded coolly, though frowning slightly. " You've always been big on teamwork and cooperation, but you've been hogging the ball ever since we started the game whenever you get the chance."

"So?"

He paused. "I never pegged you down for a hypocrite, man."

Taichi opened his mouth to snap back but caught himself before he ended up saying something that he'd regret later on. "Never mind," Taichi said finally with a shake of his head, walking past Kohei to the benches where most of the spectators of the soccer game were sitting. "I'm out. Just replace me with someone else."

"Whatever you say, Taichi," Kohei called to his back as he strode to where Hayate and Kiku were sitting together. "Cool off and come back once you clear your head, all right?"

He only waved his hand carelessly above his head in response to let Kohei know that Taichi had heard him. When he reached the bench, he grasped his water bottle and chugged it down, sighing in relief as it soothed his dry throat. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and closed his eyes as he capped the bottle and then stretched his arms over his head. "What?" he asked aloud without opening his eyes, knowing that Kiku and Hayate's gazes were on him.

"We know that you're upset," Hayate began hesitantly, "about what happened at lunch."

"But if you, like, feel that bad about it, you should just talk to Sora, you know," Kiku finished earnestly. Taichi opened his eyes slowly to look at the pair of them, and though Hayate looked away awkwardly, Kiku stared back at Taichi knowingly. "You're no good to anyone if you just, you know, spend all of your energy on, like, kicking an inflatable ball around."

"She has a point," Hayate agreed timidly.

Taichi didn't answer them directly. He took another long drink from his water bottle. "Damn girls," Taichi muttered finally, knowing very well that it was Kiku who was the mastermind behind this particular confrontation. He looked at her again and she had a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "How come you and the rest of your gender are so good at figuring out why people are upset but can't be smart enough to avoid being upset yourself?"

"Because," Kiku said without missing a beat, "we'd rather help other people and pretend that we're invincible than, like, think about our defending our own weaknesses too."

He rolled his eyes but otherwise didn't comment.

Kiku stood up and patted Taichi on the shoulder. "You're her best friend, y'know? I think that, right now, you need to be there for her. More than, like, anyone else here."

Taichi frowned at Kiku, rolling the water bottle back and forth between his hands. "And what the hell would I say? 'Yamato hurt you again? Oh. That's too bad. I'm sorry'?" Taichi snorted. "I doubt that that will help her feel any better about what happened. Besides, there's nothing I can tell her now that I haven't already said before."

Kiku regarded Taichi for a moment. "Well, do whatever you want," she said finally with a shrug. "Since you're best friend, I can't really, like, say that I understand where's Sora's coming any better than you. But, like, I know that, if I were in Sora's shoes, I'd talk to my best friend about it." When Taichi didn't respond, Kiku turned to her companion. "C'mon Hayate, let's move over to that spot with more shade. I'm, like, _totally_ burning up over here."

"Okay."

Hayate stood up and nodded at Taichi before following Kiku over to the grove of trees, leaving Taichi by the side soccer field by himself. But with nothing else to take up his attention, Taichi found that he couldn't avoid thinking about what he was supposed to do – because there was no doubt in his mind that he was supposed to do _something_… he just wasn't quite sure what it was.

He tossed his empty water bottle into the nearest waste can and sat down in Kiku and Hayate's vacated space on the bench. _What_ am_ I supposed to do now? _Taichi questioned himself. He had no answer for that. Was he supposed to go after Yamato? Perhaps interrupt the WOLVES' practice? That would have been satisfying to do, Taichi admitted to himself. The idea of sabotaging their session would have been ample revenge on Sora's behalf, at least in Taichi's mind.

Then he remembered the look on Sora's face, before she all but ran away to go sit with the artists. Taichi sighed and shook his head. No. This wasn't the time to go and confront Yamato. Taking matters into his own hands and giving Yamato the payback that Taichi thought he deserved wouldn't do any good; things were more likely to explode back in his face later if he did that. He heaved a frustrated sigh. Maybe Kiku was right - maybe he _should_ go to see Sora first. But that mere train of thought made him shiver in apprehension. If he was going to be honest with himself, he was nervous about going to talk to her.

Taichi knew with almost absolute certainty that he had disappointed Sora. They had been best friends for so long, and he knew that she had trusted him to keep her secret of Yamato and her being together, well, a _secret _from their new friends. If he kept up this rate of idiocy, he was going to end up running out of things to screw up in his friendship with Sora. The most damning part of it all, though, that this entire mess was because of his misguided attempts – for what? To get her back together with some guy who didn't care about her?

_Yeah, _real_ genius planning there, Taichi, _he scoffed at himself. If he still had his empty water bottle in his hands at that moment, he probably would have used it to hit himself in the forehead several times from sheer frustration. Seeing as how he'd thrown it away already, though, Taichi settled with kneading his forehead to release the tension building in his head.

It galled him that it was so hard to do the right thing nowadays. When they were all little kids, if Taichi inadvertently did something insensitive to Sora, she'd go off and ignore him for a couple of days until he sucked up his pride long enough apologize, and that would be the end of it. It was easy to forgive and forget (although that was something that Taichi simply had to assume, since Sora was usually the one who had to do the forgiving and forgetting). Taichi was still straightforward in pretty much the same way, even now.

But somewhere along the way, Yamato and Sora became… complicated people. And Taichi couldn't understand it at all. In his mind, it was a simple equation: Yamato was a good guy who cared for Sora a lot, Sora was a girl who pretty much still only had eyes for the Chosen Child of Friendship… really, could it get any simpler? In Taichi's mind, they would have gotten back together months ago by now – hell, they wouldn't have broken up at _all_. But they weren't, and that's what threw him off. If you liked someone a lot and you were both attracted to each other, why _couldn't _a relationship work out? How complicated could things possibly be? He just didn't get it.

Taichi shook his head to himself. And people thought that the hardest part of liking someone was just getting them to like you back… Well, at least he knew now, from watching his best friends, that it wasn't the 'liking each other' part that was hard. It was the 'making-it-work' part that was the big headache.

Taichi watched the soccer game play progress for a while longer, though the feeling of dissatisfaction stayed with him all the while. He was never one to simply _sit_ during times of stress, and though he was still wary of going to see Sora face-to-face, it was the only thing that he could think of to do that would be even remotely productive. "Damn it, Kiku, why'd you have to be so reasonable about this?" he muttered aloud with a scowl, finally giving in and standing up. Hopefully, he'd be able to get Sora away from the mural long enough for him to be able to clear the air between them. And then maybe – just maybe – she'd forgive him for not hiding her secret better from their camp friends.

When he entered the dining hall, his gaze swept over the team of artists working, combing the groups of people carefully for that flash of familiar auburn. When he failed to find Sora directly, Taichi settled instead for searching the faces of the artists for someone who he might have seen hanging around with Sora during the camp breaks. Just when he was starting to feel a little desperate, unable to recognize any of the faces, one of the artists noticed Taichi and made his way over. "Hey," the brown haired stranger said to Taichi in strangely accented Japanese and a puzzled tone, "Aren't you one of Sora's friends?"

"Yes," Taichi said, both a little wary and relieved at the forwardness of the stranger. "I'm Taichi, her best friend." He paused as he sized the stranger up. "And you are?"

The stranger offered his hand to Taichi. "I'm Paul. I work with Sora a lot in class. "

Taichi nodded, firmly shaking Paul's hand. "Nice to meet you. Listen, I'm looking for Sora. D'you happen to know where she got off to? I thought she would be working in here with the rest of you."

Paul glanced at his watch. "She should be back soon. She just went back to the art studio rooms to get some more paint… we're running low again, see."

"Oh. Okay." Taichi shifted the weight of his body from one foot to the other, unsure of what else to say. They were silent for a moment. "The mural's coming along cool," he offered awkwardly.

"Thanks." Paul studied Taichi carefully for a moment before saying, "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"What happened at lunch today? To Sora?"

Taichi blinked and raised an eyebrow while he tried to come up with an answer that would close the subject. "We just had a small disagreement at our table that Sora feels passionately about. That's all," he ended up saying.

"Hmm." Paul seemed to be dissatisfied with the answer, but he didn't ask anything else, for which Taichi gave a small sigh of relief. He didn't want to be rude to Sora's new friend if the artist attempted to pursue the issue further. "Well, I hope you can help her feel better, whatever it was about," Paul said at length. "She's taking it pretty roughly."

Taichi glanced at the artist again. He didn't feel comfortable with this guy's blatant curiosity in Sora's personal issues, especially if Sora apparently hadn't bothered to tell him the truth herself. He wondered if this Paul guy was interested in Sora on a level that was more than friends and instinctively narrowed his eyes but remained silent, not wanting to encourage the topic.

Eventually, Paul got the hint. "I'm gotta get back to the mural, so just sit tight while Sora gets her stuff. She should be back soon."

"Yeah," Taichi said, not feeling the need to add anything more to his reply. He sat down after the artist left, staring anxiously at the door, unsure of how much longer it would take Sora to get back to the dining hall and how she would react to seeing him there.

After a few more minutes (which felt like hours), the doors to the hall opened and Taichi saw Sora enter the room behind a few other people. All of their arms were full of painting cans and other supplies, so Taichi automatically stood up and went straight to Sora's side. He scooped some of the larger cans into his hold. "I got it," he reassured her when she blinked in surprise and her mouth fell open in shock at his sudden appearance. "Take them up to the front of the room?"

"Yes," Sora responded, still recovering from his unexpected presence. Together, they walked up to the mural wall and desposited the supplies on the floor. Then, Sora surreptitiously pulled Taichi by the elbow out of the artists' hearing distance. "What are you doing here, Taichi?" she asked quietly, a little bit apprehensive. "I thought you'd be at the soccer game with Kohei today for break..."

"I didn't feel like playing anymore. So I thought I'd come to see you."

"Why?" Sora frowned.

Taichi glanced at the artists, who were taking no notice of the two best friends speaking quietly with each other. He turned his eyes back to Sora and looked at her intently. "Do you have to stay here and paint, or can I steal you for a bit? Because we need to talk… about what happened at lunch today."

If he hadn't been looking at her carefully while he said the words, he would have missed her reaction entirely. As it was, Taichi was able to catch the brief second where Sora's face spasmed with a mass of conflicting emotions before she finally looked away to view the mural instead. "I don't know. I really should stay. We're sort of tight on schedule as it is, and I'm not even sure if we'll be able to finish on time at this rate."

"I think this is more important," Taichi said quietly. "Not that I'm saying that the mural isn't but there are other people working on the mural. I don't think they'll mind if you took a break. One person missing isn't too much of a loss to deal with."

Sora bit her lip. "Maybe…" She trailed off, deep in thought, before Taichi saw her eyes search the crowd of working artists. "Paul?" she called out, stepping closer.

Paul's head turned over to look at Sora from his place on a step stool, his brush paused in mid-stroke over the mural wall. "Yeah?" he called back. Taichi restrained the urge to roll his eyes at the faint expression of protectiveness and worry Paul had on his face.

"Do you mind if I leave for a little bit? There's something kind of important that I need to deal with," Sora was saying. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

He hesitated, but it seemed like the artist realized that he had no choice but to shake his head. "No, it's all right. Go on. We'll be fine here." He hesitated before adding. "Take your time, okay?"

"Thanks, I won't be too long," Sora glanced up at Taichi. "You want to go outside? I could use some air."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

They ended up meandering through the camp grounds, only stopping once they reached a spot in the forest that was shaded and somewhat off of the regular pathway. They both then lay back on the grass with the type of practiced synchrony that came only with years of solid friendship, built on a shared childhood spent finding animals in the clouds. They didn't say anything for a while though; Taichi occupied himself with turning on his stomach to watch a worm moving bit by bit into the dirt while Sora kept her gaze up at the changing shapes of the clouds in the sky. When he'd gathered his thoughts, Taichi spoke. "How are you holding up, Sora?"

"Honestly, Taichi?" Sora sighed. "I don't even know where to begin."

Taichi rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow to regard her carefully. "You practically ran away as fast as you could from us at lunch," he pointed out. "I think you have at least _some_ idea of how you might be feeling. We might as well start from there."

Sora gave a small smile at his matter-of-fact tone but avoided Taichi's eyes. "I don't like having people pity me," she murmured, looking straight up at the sky. "And you guys were looking at me like I was the most pitiful person you'd ever had the misfortune to meet."

"I'm sorry, Sora," Taichi said, the regret for her and disgust he felt toward himself in every word. "I should have done something… anything. To stop it from happening. I could have, but I didn't. And I'm sorry."

"What would you have done?" Sora turned her head to look at Taichi then. Her words were not challenging, as he was scared they might be, so Taichi relaxed slightly.

"I knew about Yamato inviting the WOLVES to camp," he said slowly, looking down at the ground to avoid Sora's gaze. "I overheard him talking on the phone to the guys this morning. When he got off, I told him that he shouldn't bring the WOLVES to camp, especially since you're not exactly a big fan of theirs. But he didn't listen to me. He just brushed it off, like I was overreacting." Taichi paused and chanced a look up at Sora's face. She didn't look angry or upset, and Taichi continued, "I was going to tell you, but I was hoping that Yamato would have thought about it and realized that I was right – that he would fix it himself." He twisted his body so that he was lying on his stomach again but could still see Sora's face. "But if I had told you, then at least then you would have been prepared to see them, instead of being caught off guard."

"It would have been nice to know that it was coming," Sora admitted quietly, "but it's not your fault, Taichi, to have hoped that he would have changed his mind. We all have some measure of faith in Yamato, whether he deserves it or not. It's not a crime to believe in him, even if he lets us down occasionally."

"Yeah, but," Taichi struggled to find the words to make her understand what he was feeling, "I don't know. I should have _done_ something! Not only as your best friend and Yamato's, but as the leader of the Chosen, and – ugh! I just thought he was finally coming around this time, you know? That things were starting to finally look up. You guys were so much better yesterday after break, so much _happier, _even with that retarded bruise on his face. And it made me mad when I saw him already screwing things up again this morning."

"Taichi –"

"No, don't try to defend him," Taichi cut her off angrily. "I know that you're going to try to, but don't you get it, Sora? You can't just keep letting him get to you like this. It isn't right! I don't know everything about your relationship with Yamato, I'll admit that, or why you guys broke up in the first place. But I feel frustrated by the way Yamato is treating you – making all these mistakes over and over and getting you upset and angry only to say later that he never meant to hurt you. How can you stand it? How can you just let him get away with it all the time?"

He sat up, too frustrated to lay down while he spoke. "Look, I'll be honest. The reason why I wanted you guys to get back together was because… I thought you guys were right for each other. It just made _sense_. I never expected you guys to break up – which is stupid now, when I look back, but I seriously couldn't wrap my mind around it, when you guys finally decided to call it quits. It seemed so… out of the blue, you know? Especially since you guys always got along and didn't do the whole shallow-teenage-relationship thing that everyone else does.

"But now it seems like everything's changed. It's as if the break-up changed you guys into different people or something. I mean, Yamato never acted like he was a boyfriend in one of those stupid romantic dramas and stuff, but he was nice to you and stuff. Now, though, he treats you like – like," Taichi struggled to find an appropriate word but failed, "I just can't stand for it anymore!" Taichi growled under his breath. "But you know what else makes me mad? The fact that you let him get away with it! Before, if someone ticked you off, you stood up for yourself and then forgot about them because they weren't worth your time. But after you and Yamato broke up, you spent nearly half the year practically hiding from him. And I don't know what's changed, but now you're defending him and giving him the benefit of the doubt even though he's totally _manipulating_ you – "

"Taichi, would you just drop it?" Sora said sharply, her eyes narrowed in annoyance as she sat up too. "Don't you dare talk to me like I'm an idiot, okay? Because I'm not. I'm not!"

"I _know_ that. But I just don't understand!" Taichi said, well aware of the fact that he was sounding like a whiny five year old but far too upset to care. "Would you please just break it down for me?"

"Fine." Sora's nostrils flared briefly before she closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath to calm herself. "Where do you want me to start explaining?" she said, not quite scathingly but close enough that Taichi realized that he'd accidentally wandered onto thin ice. "Shall I start with the birds and the bees, or are you okay there?"

Taichi ignored the jab and frowned as he thought back. "What was up with you avoiding Yamato all the time after you guys broke up?" Taichi asked finally. "There are lots of people who stay friends with the exes, but you and Yamato couldn't even be in rooms that were close by each other…"

Her eyes tightened as she thought in silence, Taichi noticed. "You and the others probably didn't even notice," she began to say reluctantly, "but the last few months of my relationship with Yamato weren't exactly easy ones. I'm not sure when it started, but I'd started getting this feeling, in the back of my head, that he didn't want to be with me anymore. But I refused to accept it – I fought it, even though every day, it seemed like Yamato was slipping further and further away from me. I did everything I could to try to make things better." She stopped, her eyes distant and deep in thought, before she blinked and gave her head a small shake. "But you know… a relationship is two people, not one. And though I tried to ignore it and deny it, the truth was that I'd been the only one in the relationship for too long. When I finally confronted him and we broke up, I was so hurt, so ashamed of the way things had turned out - and I became so mad at myself, at the way I'd acted, to be around Yamato again. So I hid. I ran away. I took the easy way out, because I didn't want to have to face the fact that I was basically in love with someone who didn't care about me at all. And I resented you guys for trying to force me back together with him."

Things were not adding up in Taichi's mind. "You got mad at us, but you just said that you _wanted_ to be in a relationship with him," Taichi said slowly, trying to get it straight in his mind. "But what if we changed his mind and Yamato realized that he did want to be with you? Why would you still be mad at us?"

"Don't you understand, Taichi, how miserable I was feeling then? I struggled so much to stay strong, fighting to keep my relationship him alive for such a long time. Despite the fact that I gave it my all, it wasn't enough. I wasn't enough. I had no choice but to give up in the end because being with me wasn't what Yamato wanted. As much pain as it gave me to realize that, as much as I dreaded my decision to finally give up, I knew it was the right thing to do at the time, for the both of us. But for you guys to try to force us back together… You guys didn't see it that way, but your actions completely disrespected both me and Yamato. You guys made us look like fools – as if whatever we broke up over was just some trivial thing that could be fixed just because you guys _wanted_ it to be." The disappointment was clear in Sora's voice as she spoke. She glared up at the sky as if it had personally affronted her.

"Oh."

"Exactly."

"But I didn't know that, Sora. If you'd just told me all that, we would have stopped."

She gave him a withering glare. "I shouldn't have to _tell_ you to butt out of my business, idiot. That's something that you should have had the courtesy to do on your own."

Taichi looked away, ashamed as the full force of what Sora was saying hit him. "I really am sorry, Sora. You know me, I never really think about things before I act," he tried to joke before turning solemn again. "I never would have gone through with it if I'd realized… sorry."

"Well, it's in the past now." She paused. "Anyway, I would have been an even greater fool to get back together with Yamato if I'd listened to you guys. Any relationship that has to be resuscitated by a friend's involvement isn't worth even trying to salvage."

"But you know… there's still a lot left that you haven't explained."

Her returning look was wary as she lay back down. Taichi copied her. "What else do you want to know?"

"What you said about why you were avoiding Yamato… it makes sense, since you were trying to get over him. And you said yourself; you didn't want to get back together with him after all that crap that went on with you two before the break up."

"But?" she prompted.

"What changed? You spent months avoiding him to get over him, and you were being difficult when we first tried to get you guys to just be regular friends again. But what happened during camp that changed things?"

Her expression was unreadable. "Like what?"

"Ever since we got to camp, you and Yamato have been acting… differently around each other. At first, I thought it was because our stupid attempts to get you guys back together were actually working in getting things going. Now that I think about it though, if you'd given up on getting back together with him, then you guys should be acting like… I don't know, just like regular friends. But you guys are both acting… weirdly around each other," Taichi said finally, unable to put it any other way. "It doesn't make sense."

Suddenly it seemed like Sora was really interested in a particular cloud formation. "Just because I didn't want to get back together with Yamato doesn't mean that I don't have any feelings for him," she muttered reluctantly, avoiding making any eye contact.

For Taichi, it was as if everything had suddenly gone silent in the world. All he could hear was the nervous sound of Sora's breathing and the knowledge he had just heard churning through his mind. He pushed himself off the ground into sitting position again, unable to lie down any longer. "You… still like him? Even now?" he couldn't help but say, disbelief heavy in every syllable.

"Yes." Even though she had an expression of strained shame on her face, she crossed her arms in a subconsciously defensive manner. "We were together for a long time, you know that. And even if the last couple of months were hard for me, it doesn't change the fact that Yamato and I – we were happy together, for a long time. A past like that doesn't just go away."

He couldn't help but notice that she sounded like she was trying to convince herself _and_ him. Taichi shook his head at her. "But are you happy now?"

Sora's head turned firmly away from him. He stared at her back for what seemed to be a long time. "No," she admitted at last. "I'm not."

He sighed, upset that Sora would do this to herself. "I don't know what to say to you, Sora."

"All that means is that you don't know how to say what you think in a way that won't hurt my feelings. Just tell me the truth, Taichi. You won't shatter my self-esteem if you do, if that's what you're worried about."

"If you insist." Taichi smiled briefly even though she couldn't see it. "You're as stubborn as Agumon is on a bad day when you think you're right about something. You don't take it well when things get out of your control, or when someone teases you for the color of your hair, and you tend to get really violent if someone _really _insults you – "

"Is there a point to all this?" Sora demanded sourly.

"– but you don't give up on the people you care about. Not even if everyone else thinks that there's no hope left for them." Taichi paused carefully, measuring the silence. "But… I think that it's about time that you give up on Yamato."

Her head swiveled back to face him almost immediately again. "What? Why?"

He answered seriously. "I can't stand to watch you get destroyed by him." Sora rolled her eyes at the melodrama of his words, but Taichi continued. "Look. Yamato's my friend, but you're my best friend. I don't want you to sit here and wait for him to change back into the person that he used to be. Because… what if he can't? What if this is who he really is? Someone who only knows how to hurt you, over and over again?" Taichi leaned forward, even though Sora had pulled back. "Sora, you're an amazing person. You're tough, smart, pretty… you shouldn't have to waste your time, waiting for him to become worthy of you again. He's become a different person, and maybe that old Yamato will never come back."

She searched his eyes and seemed to deflate at what Taichi knew was only honest concern. "I wish it was that easy, Taichi. I've tried to get over him – you can't even imagine what it's been like for me, these past months. They've been the hardest of my life. And I get what you're saying. There's nothing that you've said that I haven't already thought of too." Sora sucked a breath. "But, even knowing all of that, knowing that Yamato can't change, knowing that I'm always going to be the one waiting for him… I can't stop myself. Even though I know I can't be with him, I can't stop myself from caring about him, from wanting to be with him again."

Taichi's eyebrows pushed together as he pieced together the impossibility of her words. "So to sum this up, you still like him… and you want to get back together with him… but you don't want to?"

Sora twined a piece of her hair around her finger, cringing at Taichi's blunt conclusion. "Well. Yeah. I guess you could say it like that."

Taichi threw himself down on the ground again, giving up his attempt to make sense of Sora's thinking. "I am _never_ going to understand you _women_," he complained. Sora laughed. "What?" he snapped, annoyed that she wasn't taking him seriously.

Sora shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, you say that now. But… I think that once you find someone that you really, really like, and you can finally put yourself into my shoes… you'll know what I mean."

"You mean, if I find someone I hate enough to want to torture them by having a screwed up relationship with them, like you and Yamato do?" Taichi retorted.

"Yes, exactly," Sora said dryly. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a way with words, you jerk?"

"Nah, just you."

Sora rolled her eyes at him. She began hesitantly, "You're in a fight with Yamato now yourself, aren't you? I saw the way you two acted at lunch."

Taichi rolled his eyes own eyes back. "You make it sound like I'm being immature for fighting with him," he said petulantly.

"I don't think you're immature for butting heads with him. It's something that's just bound to happen every once in a while, with the two of you. It's always been like that, hasn't it? You guys are about as opposite as two polar opposites can be." She shook her head. "Anyway, what I meant to say was that I think that the reasons why you're mad at him this time are a bit unfair."

"Unfair? _Unfair?_ "

"Well, yes." She raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. "Why are you mad at him this time? Tell me that."

He grimaced at her. "You know, when you get that tone of voice, I get the feeling that you're going to start lecturing me and make me feel stupid." Sora's lips quirked into a smile but otherwise didn't respond, so Taichi sighed, realizing there was no point in resisting,and gave in. "I'm pissed at him because he didn't listen to me when I told him to keep the WOLVES away from camp."

"And why was that an issue?" Sora prompted.

Taichi resisted. "You know what? You're making me feel like I'm at a therapist's office or something, getting my head checked out because I'm insane. Why don't you just start showing me those wacko ink pictures now and save some time?"

Sora ignored his botched attempt at changing the subject. "Don't be such a baby," she warned, though she smiled outright. "Keep going."

"Because I knew how you felt about the WOLVES, and I knew that he knew that too. It felt _wrong_," Taichi burst out impatiently, "letting him do something that even he knew would piss you off, especially considering the fact that he hadn't even told you that they were coming. I had to get him to see it for himself."

"So, to sum it all up," she mimicked him, "you wanted to flex your muscles and show your authority over Yamato, all in the name of protecting me from the big bad TEEN-AGE WOLVES."

"You didn't have to make it sound so stupid, but yes, okay, that's basically it, and – hey!" Taichi protested, rubbing his arm vigorously from where Sora had just pinched him tightly. "What was that for! That _hurt_!"

"_That_ was for ignoring everything that I've been saying this entire time," Sora said angrily. "Really, Taichi, have you been listening to a single word I've been saying, or is this conversation going in one ear and out the other like I'm starting to think it is?"

"What does our conversation have anything to do with you being a physically abusive person?" Taichi shot back.

"I've been _telling_ you this over and over – do you seriously not get it? I hate it when you get involved with my personal business and start acting overprotective. Every time you intrude on my issues and my privacy, you're demeaning me, acting like I'm some damsel in distress who can't take care of her own problems."

"I never said that you were a damsel in distress!" Taichi argued, upset that Sora would think that of him. "Look, Sora, you're like a sister to me – you're practically family. And yeah, maybe I'm being a little bit overprotective of you, but can you blame me? I can't help it! How can you expect me to do nothing when I know something bad is going to happen to you?"

"I don't expect you to do nothing," Sora said, her face strained as she struggled to find the right words to say. "But I wish you would just think about what you're doing before you just recklessly take control of the situation like it's your natural right! I know it's in your instincts to fix everything – I get that, and in certain situations, I completely respect your authority. But Taichi – your protectiveness can go so far sometimes that it ends up _hurting_ the people that you're trying to help. Don't you see?

"I know that you've always been there for me, through thick and thin, ever since we were kids. You know I care about you as if you were my blood-related sibling. But when something bad happens to you, do I try to protect you? If it's not a life-or-death situation, I don't. I leave you alone. I let you deal with things on your own, because I respect you enough to believe in your ability to handle your problems on your own. _That's_ why I feel frustrated with you, Taichi." Her eyes bored deep into his. "I understand why you feel the need to protect me, but when you just step into every single situation to try to be the hero, you're basically saying that you don't trust me enough to be able to handle things by myself. And I wish that you would see that sometimes, I don't need your help at all."

"I can't just stop myself from getting involved," Taichi said, distressed, desperate for Sora to understand his position. "You can't expect me to stay out of your life and just watch things come to hurt you without doing anything about it."

Sora reached out to hold Taichi's hand and squeezed it briefly. "I'm not saying that you have to just stand back and watch me crash and burn, not a all. I mean," she paused, thinking back hard, "even though I resented it at the time, you know how you kept pushing me and Yamato to get back onto speaking terms with each other? That was… well, I appreciate it now, when I look back. It was wrong of me – of both of us – to just ignore each other, to ignore our years of friendship, to ignore how awkward it would have been for everyone else. And I appreciate that you kind of reasoned with us, to show us how wrong it was. When I look back now, I see that you meant well by your actions.

"But there's a line there, Taichi. My friendship with Yamato affects our relationship with the Chosen Children as well, and our duty as the Chosen is more important than personal complications. But as far as plotting to get us back together, just because you preferred us that way? That was completely wrong if you to do. I know you meant well by it, but you basically treated us as if we were your toys. I'm my own person. Whatever Yamato and I do to each other is my choice and my choice alone." She sighed. "Sometimes, you acted like you were so personally affected by the break up that I wondered if you thought you were in the relationship too."

Though he didn't want to admit it, Taichi realized the logic of Sora's words. "I guess I was... wrong," Taichi admitted reluctantly and rubbed his head. He twitched his nose. "I mean, I see your point, even though I don't agree with you completely."

"Don't make me pinch you again," Sora warned. "And this time, I'll be twisting it too."

He winced. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. You're right; I keep butting my nose in where I don't belong. I hope that you can find it somewhere in your generous heart to forgive me for being such a bastard."

Sora grinned in answer. "You're my best friend, Taichi, of _course_ I forgive you. Just promise me something, okay?"

"What?"

She became serious and looked at Taichi intently. "Next time something big or bad is going to happen, I want you to tell me about it." Sora frowned. "Like with what happened this morning. I don't need you to try to stop Yamato on my behalf; I don't want you to try to shield me and keep in the dark from things that you think can hurt me. I want you to promise me – I _mean_ it – promise me that you'll trust me enough to just tell me the truth, so that I can figure out what to do _on my own_. Okay?"

"But what if it's something that turns out to be too much for you to handle by yourself?" Taichi challenged before he could stop himself.

Sora rolled her eyes at the reemergence of Taichi's protectiveness. "Then I suppose I'll just have to go crawl in a little dark corner and cry myself to sleep. No, moron, of course I'd ask for your help! I'm not so masochistic that I'd want to purposely make myself suffer. Look, all I'm asking for is that you let me have the chance to decide whether I want to deal with something on my own or if I need your help. Don't make my decisions for me."

Taichi sighed theatrically but gave in anyway. "Oh, all right, I promise. Do you want to do a pinkie promise and seal the deal, or is just my word enough for you?"

"I think I can forgo the pinkie formalities this time," Sora said with a faint laugh, "but thanks for checking."

Taichi spread out over the grass with a groan. "I can't believe you want me to butt out of your business, though. That hurts, Sora, that hurts real deep." A thought struck him then and he lifted his head to look Sora in the eye. "Just so you know, though, I'm still going to keep an eye on Yamato, to make sure that he doesn't try to do anything else. I won't try to sabotage him or anything like that," he said quickly, forestalling Sora's indignant response, "but I'm not going to let him do just anything without me knowing about it too. Just in case. For your sake."

Sora groaned. "Taichi, I don't need you to spy on Yamato for me!"

"Well then, what the heck do you need me for?" Taichi grumbled, feeling more than a little put-out that Sora had shot down his idea so quickly.

But she answered him seriously, after a moment of contemplation. "I just… I need you to just be here for me, when I need someone's shoulder to lean on," Sora said sincerely. "I don't need you to be a… a detective, to follow Yamato around. I don't want you to be my 'knight in shining armor,' to protect me. All I need is for you to just be here for me, when there's no one else I can turn to."

Taichi listened to Sora words and couldn't help but reach out to grasp her hand tightly at the end of it. "I think I can do that."

Sora nodded before they both turned to tilt their heads to the sky. They watched the sun sink, the sky streaking orange and pink across the dusky clouds, and spoke no more.

* * *

When the band arrived in the dining hall during lunch, Yamato quickly made his way over to them to take control of the situation. Outwardly, he maintained a veneer of pleasant surprise at seeing his friends so unexpectedly; when he reached their side, though, he used a bit of subtle threatening under his breath to drag his attention-seeking band mates away from the interested fans and to the music cabin for some desperately needed practice instead. Yutaka and Akira were a bit put out with him because of it, but luckily Takahashi was more than willing to help Yamato out. Between the two of them, they were able to get Yutaka and Akira to get back on track and focused on the task at hand: preparing for their performance on Friday.

Of course, that didn't necessarily stop Akira from sulking, or Yutaka from complaining about his lost opportunity for some 'quality bonding time' with the more good-looking female fans who had greeted them. But after years of being in the band together, Yamato had become quite practiced at tuning out the negative attitude and calling them to order.

As soon as they entered the music cabin, he locked them into the largest practice room, where they quickly set up their instruments and dove headfirst into a grinding rehearsal session. Never once did they leave the room, all throughout the afternoon break. With Yamato pushing them and coaxing them, they played hard with gritted determination. Such fervor, of course, could not leave them unscathed: Akira and Yamato's already calloused fingers became raw from their strings and even Takahashi's fingers became slightly bruised from his grip on the drumsticks. But it was a good kind of hurt – one that was proof of their dedication to their craft and their desire to improve their music.

On the rare occasions that Yamato would call for a short break, the four of them would sprawl over the ground and just talk. Yamato listened and chuckled at their anecdotes of what they'd done so far in the summer (some of which had been illegal or outright stupid, but Yamato had grown to simply expect that sort of thing from them at that point in their friendship). He found their loud presence and camaraderie soothing for its familiarity, and Yamato felt relaxed in a way that he hadn't been able to since before the auditions for orchestra had commenced.

Whatever their failings were, the WOLVES at least made music fun again for Yamato. It became exhilarating, refreshing - stress-relieving, even. Maybe it was because being a part of and preparing for the WOLVES was something that Yamato chose to do. Unlike the orchestra – which, although he did sign up for it of his own free will, forced him to practice constantly, whether he liked it or not. And even then, who knew if he'd still be blamed for not practicing hard enough? With the orchestra, Yamato felt like he always had to watch his back and stay on his guard. With the WOLVES, though. He could go at his own pace, find his own rhythm. There was no pressure, no need to compete to be the best, because they only sounded good when they worked together as a team.

But when they weren't on one of their mini-breaks, they were practicing steadily. Yamato made sure that the band spent a lot of time polishing up old material with new tricks they'd learned, as well as working out trouble spots in newer songs that they hadn't yet had a chance to really get a feel for. And once, just when Yamato announced another short break, Takahashi began to play a rough melody line he'd come up with. Yamato played it back to him with a few tweaks, and Akira jumped in, adding in chords to go along with Yamato's harmonization. Yutaka ended up scribbling down a few lines for lyrics, and before long, they found themselves with a new song on their hands and no desire to take a break just yet. It was, in effect, the kind of musical interaction that Yamato had been missing so much.

They had just decided on a possible concept for their performance on Friday and come to a unanimous agreement of sorts on the rough order of songs that they would play when the dinner bell rang. It startled Yamato – had time passed by so quickly without his realizing it? He leaned against the wall, rubbing his fingers against each other to soothe the ache in them from playing almost constantly all afternoon. "Good practice today, guys," he said with a nod, pleased at their overall productiveness. He grinned slightly with satisfaction. "We really got a lot done."

"Didn't I tell ya that this would be a piece of pie?" Akira said with a smirk of his own as he zipped up his guitar case. "We got this down, no problem about it. Friday'll be a breeze, I'm tellin' you!"

He reached over and knocked fists with Yutaka, who had a similarly smug expression on his face. "I'll be surprised if our performance isn't the best of the night," Yutaka said cockily.

Even Takahashi – usually the pessimist of their band – looked comforted by how much they'd accomplished in just a few short hours. He tucked his drumsticks into the back pocket of his jeans and began putting away the drum set. "Yeah, hopefully the entire performance will go off without a hitch. It'd be embarassing to mess up if we're the closing act of the night, you know?"

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Don't jinx it, please."

"Yeah man!" Akira interjected. "Don't be such a downer! We don't need any rain on our parade."

"I can't help it, it's in my nature," Takahasi said, holding up his hands defensively as if to ward them off. Then he changed the subject. "So, Yamato, do you want us to come back again tomorrow? We still need to work on getting the transition between songs done, and since we only have until Friday..."

"Yeah, we should definitely meet up again tomorrow. And you might as well mark Thursday down while you're at it. Just give me a call _before _you arrive next time, okay?" Yamato shot a look at Yutaka, who only whistled innocently as he tucked his music sheets back into his folder but otherwise gave no notice to the WOLVES' leader. "I'm serious. It's not as if this is the only time you'll ever get attention for being in a band. Besides, thanks to the big entrance you guys gave, people won't be nearly as shocked by our 'surprise performance' on Friday, which kind of defeats the purpose of it being a _surprise_," Yamato pointed out dryly. "I'm completely expecting Manami or Ran to complain to me later about the TEEN-AGE WOLVES' lack of professionalism, and that's not a conversation I want to go through. You get me?"

"Yeah, man. I guess you're right," Akira said, looking appropriately abashed. "We should've thought of that before we barged in. "

"It's cool. I'm not mad or anything, just… not happy." Yamato sighed before bending down to pack up his belongings. "Man, I can't believe it's already time to wrap up for today. Practice just passed by so quickly."

"That's cause it's been a while," Akira said, standing up and swinging his guitar case up on his back. He stepped forward and leaned against Yamato, his elbow resting on Yamato's shoulder and said dramatically, "Admit it, dude - you totally missed us! Without us, you're just way too heartbroken to be able to enjoy music. Am I right, or am I right?"

Yamato didn't bother to hide his grimace when Akira's elbow dug into his collarbone as the other boy gesticulated wildly. "For once, you actually guessed right on the mark." He pushed Akira's elbow off of his shoulder, leaving the other boy staggering for balance, and Yamato continued seriously, "I don't know guys. Orchestra isn't as fun or as interesting as I'd thought it'd be. It's turning out to be, well… more stressful than I'm used to having to feel with music. Not to mention that, for the most part, the company doesn't exactly help make things better."

The other WOLVES exchanged wordless glances with each other. "That Ito guy does sound like a piece of work," Takahashi admitted. Subconsciously, the drummer began rapping his fingers against the edge of the doorway frame, which he tended to do when he was thinking deeply about something.

"Way intense," Akira added with an uncharacteristic frown on his face. "I mean, obviously we know what it's like to have your life revolve around music… but… that guy is taking things way far. What's the point of doing music if you're warping it into something it's not?"

"I know." Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the coming headache that always accompanied thoughts about the ambitious concertmaster. "After he got suspended, he's been mostly just leaving me alone. But I know that, with his personality, he's not going to let this affront to his reputation go without any retribution. He's going to want to have his revenge, as melodramatic as that sounds." Yamato smiled wryly. "To be completely honest, I envy you guys a lot right now. I'm learning a lot in orchestra about music and stuff, but I miss the freedom of being able to practice my music the way I want. Hell, I miss the freedom to just do whatever I want."

"Well, why don't you come out with us tonight?" Yutaka suggested. He stretched his legs out leisurely in front of him as he looked up at Yamato from the piano bench. "We're headed to Shibuya for a party after this. Some of the older kids – Ryuu, Minoru, and some of the others, I think – are back from university and wanted to meet up with us to hang out at Itsuki's new club opening. You know Itsuki; there's bound to be awesome music and lots of cool people to hang with. The scene will be just the kind of thing you need to get your mind off this camp stress. What do you think? Takahashi's excited to go, since we'll be seeing our old buddies in person again, and you're even closer to them than we are."

"They came back to visit for summer break?" Yamato said, starting at the news. The last time that he'd hung out with those guys had been practically two years ago, now. Though there had been occasional text conversations and online chats in that space of time, it wasn't nearly enough to be a real substitute for live interaction. He immediately contemplated the possibility of seeing them again. "I didn't know that. When was this planned out?"

"I don't know; we just found out a couple of days ago," Akira answered. "I think that all of them are only visiting for a little bit before they have to head back, so they wanted to party it up while they're still around."

"Yeah, I would too," Yamato responded absentmindedly as he mulled over the prospects of leaving camp for the night. He found himself quite tempted to go with the WOLVES to the party, especially with the promise of fun that Akira and Yutaka's words painted (which really did hold a lot of appeal). He would be able to relax, to enjoy himself – an evening where he wouldn't have to think about the orchestra and its drama. He could get away from all that pressure and stress and hang out with his band mates instead, who had managed to renew his interest and love for music.

And – Yamato suddenly remembered – he would be able to get away from his friends at camp and the drama that he knew he would have to face once he returned to their midst at dinner time.

It wasn't that Yamato was tired of his friends, or angry at them. Quite the contrary, in fact: Yamato had grown quite fond of the group's new friends, even crazy and exuberant Kiku (whose actions, at times, made Yamato think of Mimi). But Yamato was never one to smother people with his presence and company. Sometimes, he inexplicably felt the need to be around other people, to do other things, and now was one of those times. After spending nearly all of his time outside of class with the group, Yamato felt restless, restrained. He needed a change of atmosphere, at least for the night, to recharge his batteries before diving back into the final week of camp.

And as far as drama went… well. That really applied more to Taichi than to anyone else. Yamato wasn't an idiot, after all. He had known from the beginning, from the moment Manami had proposed that the WOLVES should come to perform at the camp showcase on Friday, that if anyone found out beforehand that the TEEN-AGE WOLVES would be coming to camp, it would create a stir, could even bring trouble. For that reason, Yamato had been reluctant to share the news with his friends. He hadn't been able to figure out what would have been the best approach to telling the group about the WOLVES' coming, hadn't been even able to decide whether it was a good idea for the TEEN-AGE WOLVES to perform at all. But Manami and Ran seemed so genuinely interested in having the band come that really, in the end, Yamato couldn't say no. He forced himself to reason that he could not let his personal worries stop an opportunity for the band. So he agreed to the adults' request, though he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe - just maybe - it was all a bad idea.

Despite that though, he knew that he had made the right choice after he called Akira to let the guitarist know about the camp's request. The band hadn't performed in a while, not since the last music competition when the WOLVES lost their nerve and placed fourth in the line-up. When compared to the third place position they had attained the year before, the result only served to damage their confidence as a group. It became hard for them to summon any creativity for new material after that particular episode. So when Yamato called Akira and heard his friend become enthusiastic over the idea of a guerilla performance… well, to Yamato, that reaction justified his decision, especially considering the fact that Yamato too needed to feel excited for music again.

Sometimes, it was his job to put himself on the line for his band. And he didn't regret it. It was his responsibility; he was proud to do it. That they trusted him enough to lead them and do what was necessary was no small feat, and Yamato had every intention to prove his worth as a leader.

Yamato still couldn't completely silence the niggling worry in him that the WOLVES would somehow cause a dispute within his group, though. He had his misgivings. But when he first mentioned to Koushiro that the WOLVES would be coming on Friday to perform, Koushiro had only registered surprise and then silent bemusement, so Yamato was lulled into a (what turned out to be) false sense of security. Surely, if Koushiro hadn't thought it was a bad idea, the others would be fine with it as well.

Of course, Taichi had reacted to the news in an entirely different way. To give him credit, Taichi had mellowed out a great deal over the years. Yamato still clashed with him every so often, as two males were prone to do when their personalities were so different. But for the most part, Yamato's friendship with Taichi had grown strong, fortified by mutual respect for each other's capabilities and the years of teamwork they had established behind them, with Gabumon and Agumon by their sides. If Taichi was the figurehead of the Chosen Children, then Yamato was the second-in-command. Taichi was a natural leader, and Yamato acted as a natural counterbalance to the brunet's rash impulses with his own cool reason. At the best of times, it was an ideal, unbeatable partnership.

At the worst of times, however, the two of them were capable of creating terrible conflicts, when the situation was critical enough to warrant such strong emotions from both sides. When Taichi had found out that morning that Yamato's band was coming, Taichi's protective instinct over Sora, which usually walked the line between best friend and older brother in mild strength, had flared out in full force, taking Yamato off guard. Yamato had predicted from Taichi, at most, perhaps disapproval and some strong words. He had not been expecting barely restrained anger and a verbal lashing that stung Yamato in all the wrong places. And it was in situations like that when all their years of friendship became a weapon – because after all that time spent together, working as a team and protecting each other from manipulating foes, who else but Taichi knew all the right words to say to get under Yamato's skin, to get him to rise out from under his indifferent shield and become harsh and cold?

And so, despite the fact that he knew that it would do nothing to help the situation if he lost his tempter and snapped back at Taichi, that was exactly what Yamato ended up doing. He couldn't help himself, not when Taichi flung accusations in every which way at him. The two of them had faced off, both assured that what they were doing was right and that the other was firmly in the wrong. It made Yamato angry that Taichi could simply regard the fact that Yamato had an obligation to his band as inferior to Taichi's responsibility to the well-being of the Chosen. That Taichi could view Yamato's band so callously angered him, given all the years Yamato had spent pouring his heart and soul into his music and the WOLVES.

Instead of agreeing and conceding to Taichi's demands as he would have done normally in other situations to keep the peace, Yamato remained stubborn. After all, what did Taichi know about anything – about the WOLVES, about him? Yamato didn't appreciate his friend's meddling into business that he knew nothing about, and Yamato made his position on the matter clear. With neither one of them willing to back down, he knew that their determined stances on the issue would be a dividing wall between the both of them for a while, creating a cold war that was sure to attract notice from their other camp friends.

But Yamato was too incensed to care. His only concern at the moment of their conflict was to get out of the room, away from Taichi, as soon as possible, before the brunet decided to rehash the past and damage their relationship at present even further.

Yamato was sure that Taichi's worries were unnecessary. He knew that Sora was not nearly in need of as much protection as Taichi thought she did. Taichi overreacted often, when it came to the people he cared about – in fact, it was something that was instinct to the both of them. For Yamato, there was a line. Once someone crossed that line, they were under his protection, and he would go to the ends of the earth and more to shield them from harm. There were only a few beings, though, that were in the protection of his formidable guard: Takeru, Gabumon, and his parents (as well as Sora, though hers was a name that Yamato tried not to dwell on too often when he thought of the people he cared about).

In that sense, Yamato understood where Taichi was coming from. But at the same time, it was that understanding that made Yamato feel like Taichi was making mountains out of hills, creating problems and issues out of thin air. Because despite everything that they'd gone through together, despite the painful pushing and pulling between them, Yamato would never do anything to deliberately hurt Sora. He would never allow anything in his power to harm her. Unfortunately, it seemed like Taichi no longer had faith to believe him on that.

So now, as he looked back at his band mates, Yamato decided that the extra night off would be a good thing – for both him and Taichi. After what had happened, he knew that Taichi needed some space to deal with with Yamato's defiance. In Yamato's mind, at best, Taichi would just be annoyed at him but would get over it by tomorrow morning, once he'd had the evening and some time to sleep on it to view the morning's events more objectively. And in the worst case scenario, Yamato thought that Taichi would maybe give him the cold shoulder for a while, though it would only be a few days at most before Taichi started talking to him again – he never was good at holding grudges.

There was no other choice, really. Not when everything at that moment was conveniently pointing him in only one direction. Yamato made up his mind. "Going out… it does sound like it would be fun," he said slowly, as if he were still reluctant to go along with them.

"Heck yeah, man!" Akira immediately pounced, sensing that Yamato was on the brink of agreeing to go out with them. "We'll have a blast. I mean, dude! How often are we gonna get this chance to hang out with the guys again, now that they're thinking of studying abroad and everything? This could be the last time we get a chance to hang out together, as one big happy family."

"True…"

Yutaka smiled warmly, slapping Yamato good-naturedly on the back, and began enthusing about the possibilities of all the fun they'd have together. "Seriously, though, you deserve the night off. After all the shit that your orchestra's been giving you? You need to relax and unwind, Yamato. You can't make good music if you're stressed out of your mind, you know that as well as I do. You've got to be in the right mindset to make art."

Yamato raised an eyebrow challengingly. "What if I get in trouble for sneaking out of camp without permission? There's no way they'd let me go to a party with this kind of late notice. I doubt that they'd be willing to let me go, especially since if something happens to me, they'd get in trouble."

Takahashi shrugged as he took one last survey around the room to make sure that they hadn't forgotten to pack anything away. "Come on, Yamato. You know as well as we do, we're careful. We're not gonna get in trouble or put each other in danger. It's just a party. We'll listen to music, we'll catch up, we'll have a good time, and then we'll go home. That's all. No big deal."

"Besides," Yutaka pointed out, "with all the students at camp, how're they going to be able to keep track of where you are anyway? There's no way they'll even notice that you're gone. And unless your friends decide that it'd be a good idea to tattle on you, you'll be able to get in and out of camp easily, no problems."

Yamato made a show of sighing heavily, though he only just managed to suppress the smile that he felt. "Well… okay. I guess we could go out tonight."

The rest of the WOLVES pumped their fists in victory, and, psyched for the night ahead, they quickly unlocked the door and left the building. A party in the middle of the nightlife of Tokyo was a temptation that was like a siren's song calling out to them, and it was one that they were all more than eager to answer.


	11. A Loss of Gravity

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**  
Author's Notes:** This chapter has been edited and updated as of June 2011 (the original chapter was uploaded in July 2010). As such, if you happen to be re-reading this chapter and notice any changes… well, now you'll know why.

As always, please enjoy the chapter and let me know your thoughts in a review. Thanks!

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter XI: A Loss of Gravity_

* * *

Compared to the neighboring districts around it, Shibuya seemed to pulse with light and sound. It was a popular remark among the inhabitants of Tokyo that one often _heard_ Shibuya far before one actually _saw_ it. The reputation wasn't necessarily unwelcome, however. Shibuya prided itself for being the flashiest party district in Tokyo, and being known for anything less than eye-catching and showy would have been an insult.

Yamato, however, tended to avoid Shibuya when he could. He took the inevitable performances at the Shibuya clubs in stride, but the club scene was overall too ostentatious for his liking. The lingering memories of Pumpmon and Gotsumon, the two Digimon who had sacrificed themselves to protect him and Takeru against Vandemon, didn't increase the appeal of visiting Shibuya either.

Nearly six years had passed since his meeting with them, and yet Yamato could still remember those uncertain times with startling clarity. Yamato bowed his head in silence when the taxi drove past the alleyway where Pumpmon and Gotsumon had defended them against Vandemon.

Before he could dwell on it for long, though, thoughts of Digimon were pushed to the back of Yamato's mind as the taxi pulled to a stop at Itsuki's club. Akira flung the taxi door open to scramble outside, and Yamato's ears were immediately assaulted with an onslaught of heavy rock music.

"Come on, let's _go_!" Yutaka urged from behind him.

Yamato obliged, sliding out of the cab and stepping onto the sidewalk. He eyed the long line outside the club that stretched halfway down the block, winding around and growing by the second. "Do we have to wait in line?" he asked Yutaka doubtfully as the pianist came up from behind him.

"Psh. Ishida, there are perks involved when you're friends with the club owner." Yutaka snorted before snapping out his cell phone and dialing a number. "Waiting in line is for the unconnected. Just give me a minute to work my magic."

Takahashi joined them after paying their cab fare in time to hear the last of Yutaka's words. He exchanged a look with Yamato before rolling his eyes. "What magic? We're all friends with Itsuki, it's not like you're the only one who can get us in."

Yutaka pointedly shushed the drummer before pressing the phone to his ear. A smile spread across his face when the line at the other end opened. "Yo, Itsuki! Me and the guys are right outside. Heck yeah, of course we got Yamato with us. Didn't I say we would? All right, cool… Yeah, see you in a bit." He tucked his phone away and smirked triumphantly at Yamato. "Itsuki's coming to get us right now. He also said that he'll put us on the VIP list so we can get inside without waiting next time."

Akira joined them, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he tried to contain his excitement. "Dude, I am so psyched to get this party started!," he enthused. "It has been way, _way_ too long since we've been able to party with the guys - and you know what that means, right?"

"_Alcohol_," Yutaka caught on immediately, his smirk giving way to a wide grin that echoed the one on Akira's face. "Just the way we like it, eh Akira?"

Yamato and Takahashi exchanged a long look before sighing and shaking their heads simultaneously.

"Hell yeah!" Akira nodded as he ignored Yamato and Takahashi. He went on reminiscently, "Do you remember those crazy parties that the guys used to throw? They were insane! But after they graduated, all the parties at school just bombed completely."

"I think you're giving them too much credit," Yamato interjected. "The only reason why you _think_ the parties have gotten worse is because we know what to expect out of them now. Itsuki's parties were only good because we were new and everything seemed cool to us."

"And I think that you're being a _little_ bit too harsh. But I suppose that's expected when coming from you, Yamato," came a voice behind them.

Yamato turned and smiled. "Good to see you too, Itsuki." He shook hands with the thin, dark-haired club owner. "And you know me - I only speak the truth, no matter how harsh."

Itsuki grimaced. "One of your winning qualities, I know. Anyway, it's great to see you - and the rest of you guys too," Itsuki added, shaking hands with the other WOLVES. "Seriously, I'm glad you guys could make it. It's just like old times, isn't it?" He gestured to his club. "Let's head inside - the others are all here and waiting to see you guys again."

The WOLVES obediently settled into step behind Itsuki as he led them to the club entrance. As if on cue, the bouncers opened the doors for them, allowing the music that Yamato had registered when he first left the cab to fully reach outward and envelope them. They crossed over into the dark, decadent realm of Itsuki's club, and all thoughts of ordinary life left Yamato's mind as his head turned in every direction to take in everything he saw .

It was the little details that caught Yamato's eye. There were the antique chandeliers to cast dim lights around the room, the intricate wrought iron railings that partitioned the floor, the heavy velvet curtains which lent varying degrees of privacy to the booths that lined the room. Curious choices of design for a rock club, as they had a decidedly burlesque feel. However, these traditional touches were juxtaposed against the predominantly black leather, mirrored, and steel décor. Playing off of the jarring contrast, Itsuki had managed to infuse the club with a strangely heavy atmosphere that promised both danger and excitement.

Yamato gave a low, appreciative whistle – not that anyone else would have been able to hear it over the pounding music.

Their progress to the VIP area of the club - for where else would Itsuki place his closest friends? - was slow because of the crowded floor. It wasn't long, though, before Yamato found himself in a secluded corner of the club that was filled with plenty of familiar faces. "Minoru!" Yamato exclaimed with a wide grin once he caught sight of the fair-haired university student. He slapped his friend on the shoulder in warm greeting.

"'Ey, Yamato!" Minoru pounded Yamato on the back. "I didn't know that you were going to come! Takahashi told us yesterday that you were going to be busy with some camp thing and wouldn't be joining us."

"He _was_ busy," Akira interjected, coming up from behind Yamato. He elbowed the WOLVES leader in the side and dodged the reflexive retaliating shove. "But... you know us," Akira continued breezily, "We flexed our persuasion skills to get him to ditch the place so that he would come clubbing with us."

Feeling generous, Yamato laughed and let Akira's boasting go uncontested. "Yeah, whatever man. We'll be right back, Minoru; we've got to say hi to everyone else."

The WOLVES found themselves being welcomed with the familiar mixture of open arms and well-meaning insults that had always characterized their group, and Yamato instantly relaxed in the company of his old friends. Worries of Kosuke and the orchestra disappeared while he and Minoru made fun of Yutaka's incorrigible fixation on girls; he forgot about his fight with Taichi completely as he amusedly watched Akira attempt to sneak a drink (only to fail miserably after getting caught by Itsuki). Although there were a few new faces among them – new girlfriends and friends made in college – their little ragtag rebel group hadn't changed much since their early high school days. He found himself comforted by the fact that, no matter how drastically some parts of his life changed, there were also constants to reassuringly stay the same.

He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so hard or for so long. There was plenty of story-telling going on: Minoru regaled Yamato and the other WOLVES with mischievous tales of university life in the dormitories, and Yutaka countered them with stories of how the WOLVES and the other 'younger kids' in the group now ruled the high school. Not only that, but most of the older guys provided plenty of hilarious entertainment as they imbibed more drinks as the night wore on. They were silly, if crass, drunks, and they took it upon themselves to make sure that everyone else was filled with good humor as well.

When he had his fill of chatting and catching up, Yamato slipped out of the VIP area to the front of the club for a moment to take a break by watching the live band play. The music pounded and pulsed, vibrating deep in Yamato's chest pleasantly as he leaned against the iron railings. At Yamato's favorite point of one song, the bass line was driven powerfully against the lighter rhythms of the drums, and a guitar riff complimented them both by encompassing the beat and adding on a counter melody line. Yamato tapped his foot along to the music's beat appreciatively as he listened.

He didn't realize that his company had been missed until Minoru suddenly appeared and leaned against the railing on Yamato's side. "I was wondering where you went. Why'd you leave without saying anything? We thought you'd gotten bored and ditched us."

Yamato shrugged. "I just needed a break. I didn't think that I needed to announce it." He chuckled. "Or was I supposed to ask for your permission before leaving?"

"Asshole." Minoru punched Yamato in the arm. "You left me to deal with the hooligans and maniacs on my own. It became especially painful after Yutaka and Akira brought back a whole group of TEEN-AGE WOLVES fans to the VIP area." Minoru shuddered.

"Well, thank god I didn't get caught in the cross-fire of that, then," Yamato said lightly, quirking his lips slightly. "How did the rest of the guys react to the additional company? I can't imagine that they'd let Akira and Yutaka get away with bringing back a harem of fans without trying to sabotage them."

"You know them well." Minoru laughed. "They got annoyed by Akira and Yutaka's bragging and turned the tables by telling all of these embarrassing stories about them to the girls. Basically, they made you and Takahashi seem like the only decent guys in the band – all the more to make Yutaka and Akira look bad, you know?"

"I bet Akira didn't take to that well."

"No kidding." Minoru looked knowingly at Yamato. "Actually, Akira shared a pretty interesting story about how you are the most – and I quote – 'conniving blond band leader in the entire underground music scene'. He mentioned something about water and the WOLVES' last music competition."

Yamato sighed and shook his head, knowing very well which event Akira had been referring to. "Color me surprised," he said wryly.

The weeks prior to their last festival had been packed with many school projects and activities, making it difficult for the WOLVES to gather together and practice. Unable to schedule rehearsal times for the whole band, Yamato was forced to tell each member to practice their music individually as much as they could spare. However, when at last they met up the night before the festival for what should have been a quick run-through practice, Yamato discovered to his annoyance that the other had slacked off in their practicing. Their music was far from their usual standard of performance and completely unacceptable for a competition, and Yamato reacted badly to their lack of preparation.

Ruthlessly and mercilessly, Yamato ended up ordering a late night band rehearsal. It was basically a session of practicing that did not end until all of their fingers smarted and became raw, until they had memorized the music on pure muscle memory rather than by ear. Yamato pushed them hard as punishment for their irresponsibility, and poor Akira had unwittingly fallen asleep in the middle of their rehearsal, having unwisely passed on Yutaka's earlier offer to buy everyone coffee.

Testy from sleep deprivation and in no mood to be tolerant, Yamato did not waste time trying to shake his snoring guitarist awake. Instead, he disappeared wordlessly to the bathroom before reemerging a minute later with a bucket full of ice cold water.

Before Yutaka or Takahashi could comprehend the situation and react, Yamato dumped the entire contents of the bucket over the guitarist and Akira was jolted cruelly awake, screaming bloody murder and swearing as he did so. When Akira demanded an explanation for the inhumane treatment, the only response Yamato gave to the furious guitarist was a murderous glare. Eventually, Akira got to his feet – unsteadily, but still, he managed it – and practice recommenced without further comment. No one fell asleep for the rest of practice after that incident… mainly because Yamato had filled another bucket of water and left it in plain sight for them all to see as a warning.

Though his punishment caused inevitable tension between Yamato and Akira the next day, it paid off. The WOLVES ended up placing high in the ranking because their song had been so ingrained into their subconscious that the performance itself felt as natural as breathing. Of course, not even the high from their victory was enough to sustain the WOLVES with enough energy to stay awake after their all-nighter. As soon as Yamato's dad arrived to drive them back to Copaiba, they all fell asleep within seconds in the van, sprawled across the seats and snoring.

"It's amazing that they've put up with you and your crazy ways for all these years," Minoru teased, nudging at Yamato. "You're a different person when you're angry. Remind me never to piss you off when you're barely lucid and sleep deprived - it's like incurring the wrath of the gods."

Yamato grinned. "I'll try and remember, but I make no promises," he answered solemnly.

"You know, the WOLVES are lucky to have you as their leader, your tendency to torture aside," Minoru commented thoughtfully while tapping his fingers against the metal railing in uneven rhythm. "The guys are talented on their own, but you're really the one who's responsible for the success of the TEEN-AGE WOLVES… despite the ridiculous name," he added, rolling his eyes.

"Hey," Yamato protested, throwing a mock-glare in Minoru's direction, "I'll have you know that the name happens to have personal significance to us. If you must insult it, have the decency to do it someplace where I can't hear you. But I'll take the compliment on the band's success - it's because of my good looks, you know," he stage-whispered in a confidential tone.

Minoru shuddered, making Yamato laugh. "Ugh. I'm not one of your fan girls, so spare me the preening. What I _meant_," Minoru continued emphatically, "is that if it weren't for you keeping the guys focused, they would have crashed as soon as they experienced the slightest rise in popularity."

Yamato shook his head. "I don't usually act like the disciplinarian - I mean, that was just the one time I stepped in. I usually just lead practice," he explained. "It's Takahashi who deals with management, and Yutaka and Akira write more songs than I do. I just make sure that we rehearse together efficiently."

"I know that. But I wasn't talking about how you keep them focused in rehearsals - I meant that you do a good job of keeping them on stage and out of trouble," the older boy clarified. He began ticking off his fingers. "Yutaka and Akira are reckless, and Takahashi's not strong enough to rein them in by himself. More often than not, he gets pulled into their craziness because he can't say no. But you keep the band together because you know when to step in and control them and when to let them loose."

"It's not like that." Yamato frowned, finding the picture that Minoru was describing distasteful. "I'm no policeman. I'm only their leader when it comes to music - everything else is their business."

As close as Yamato was to his band members, that didn't necessarily mean that he was wholly involved in their lives - and to be honest, he didn't want to be. While he trusted the band in some things, there were other aspects of his life that he would never be able to share with them: his family, for one, or the Digital World. The others drew lines in areas of their own lives as well. Yamato didn't have to try to know; none of them would have appreciated unsolicited guidance because he would have hated it if they tried to mold him too.

"So it doesn't make you uncomfortable when you see them flirting shamelessly with all those girls?" Minoru raised a challenging eyebrow. "Or when they drink, or do drugs - all that illegal stuff doesn't bother you?"

"I'm not denying that I disapprove of what they do." Yamato paused, casting his mind for a way to explain his thoughts. "But I get why they act the way they do. And even if I didn't, it's not my place to judge them for their decisions."

Minoru's eyebrows pushed together, his expression clearly dissatisfied with Yamato's answer. "So why _do_ they act the way they do?" he asked finally, his expression skeptical.

"There's not one single underlining reason that justifies what they do. But I guess the biggest reason is the whole music thing. I mean, the TEEN-AGE WOLVES have been together for a while now, but even we know it's not going to last. For all we knew, it could end tomorrow. All it takes is for life to collide into us, and then it'll be as if the TEEN-AGE WOLVES never existed. We'll disappear and become a forgotten memory. That's the way most of the underground bands end up, anyway."

Yamato shifted his weight and leaned against the railing. "Takahashi and I - neither one of us wants to rely on the WOLVES' popularity. We know it's only going to be a temporary thing, so we don't want to get used to all of the… the privileges, the perks. You know? But Akira and Yutaka - they're trying to get the most out of it while they still can. That's why they're always clubbing and hitting on fans. They know that one day, things won't be as easy as they are now. And so it's all a game, for them."

It was obvious that Minoru was dissatisfied by Yamato's answer, but he eventually sighed. "Well, I guess it might be a bit too much to hope that you and Takahashi will spread your good influence to those troublemakers, but two out of four isn't too bad."

"Guess so."

In the lull in conversation that followed, Minoru took out his phone to presumably text someone and Yamato watched the band adjust their instruments for their next song. In the middle of his typing, Minoru asked distractedly, "So, how's the girlfriend doing these days? Sora, wasn't it? Things between you guys as strong as ever?"

Yamato's gaze went to Minoru face, which was still focused on his cell phone. He recognized the change in topic as a gesture of peace to diffuse the tension, but he didn't want them to discuss such a personal and inevitably uncomfortable topic. Yamato assessed his friend, unsure of how to respond. Although Minoru was one of his closer friends in the group (and one of the few who had actually liked Sora when they met), Yamato couldn't help his reflex to hesitate. How much of the truth could reveal - and trust Minoru to keep?

He responded with the small part of the truth that was common knowledge. "Sora and I broke up with each other."

Minoru visibly started. He lowered his phone and looked at Yamato, blinking. "What? You guys broke up?" Yamato didn't respond and Minoru pressed further, confused. "You guys ended things completely?"

"Earlier last year… Why are you looking at me like that?" Yamato raised a questioning eyebrow, inwardly uncomfortable at Minoru's gaping face though he kept his own expression neutral.

His friend gathered himself before shaking his head. "It's just… I don't know, shocking. I mean. Last time I saw you guys together before my graduation, you and Sora were so… _with_ each other, still." Minoru shook his head again. "It's just... wow. I don't know what to say."

He looked at Yamato again, his eyes clearly filled with sympathy this time. Yamato subconsciously withdrew from Minoru, turned off by his pity. "I don't know why you're so surprised. How often do high school relationships actually last, anyway?" Yamato said dismissively while he looked around the club, affecting a disinterest in the topic.

In actuality, Yamato's stomach had coiled unpleasantly at Minoru's concern. But he determinedly avoided Minoru's eyes so that he could give himself time to keep his expression even.

"But you guys were with each other for so long… since before even high school, wasn't it? Didn't you guys know each other before that too? In elementary school or something?" Minoru continued. When Yamato didn't answer, he gently asked, "Who ended it?"

"Minoru," Yamato sighed and rubbed his temple, frustrated by Minoru's persistence, "I know that you mean well, but could we not talk about this?"

For a moment, Minoru looked annoyed. He opened his mouth as if to argue. But something rippled across the older boy's face - a realization, perhaps? - and his expression softened. "All right." He gestured to the VIP area. "Let's head back. I'm sure that Yutaka and Akira's fan girls will be gone now that they've been disgraced, so you'll be safe."

Yamato wanted to do as Minoru suggested, but their conversation had begun to spoil the night for him. Yamato shook his head. "I'll head back later." Not wanting to offend his friend, he added, "I'd rather listen to music for now than risk getting assaulted by rabid fanatics… you know?"

Minoru knew him well enough not to press him too hard on that point. He chuckled. "All right. See you in a bit." He patted Yamato on the shoulder and left the bassist by himself at the railing once more.

With Minoru gone, Yamato sank deep into thought. Though he couldn't have known it, Minoru's casual mention of elementary school had brought back half-forgotten memories to the fore of his mind, and Yamato couldn't help but think back on those days again. In the past year, he'd been reluctant to remember his relationship with Sora because of how badly things had ended between them. He'd tried hard to forget everything about her, about _them_, so that he could look forward and move on. At least, that's what he told himself. Deep down, beneath the lies he told himself, Yamato avoided reminiscing because of how much it hurt to think of those easy, happy years.

Now, though, the memories were no longer painful to revisit. He didn't know why it was or how it had happened, but it wasn't with dread that Yamato began to think back to the way things had been at the very beginning.

It was during that first Digital adventure that Yamato became friends with Sora. They hadn't known each other at all before summer camp, having belonged to different school districts in Odaiba. And then, even at the summer camp, they had only known each other in passing. Sora was firmly ensconced in her friendship with Taichi and Koushiro at that point, and Yamato had been too busy looking after Takeru to think about making friends.

He had been polite to them, of course, and never turned away the gestures the others made toward a stronger acquaintance. But when had Yamato ever had the desire within him to make those overtures of friendship himself? It was a trait that stuck with him through the years. He was a loyal friend, but even now, he still had the reputation of being a lone wolf.

Of course, everything changed when the Chosen Children found themselves suddenly transported into the Digital World. And it was only then that Yamato really began to become friends with the others.

Life-or-death situations have a tendency to propel even the most unlikely people together in favor of mutual survival; however, being caught in such a situation doesn't necessarily lead to the creation of life-long bonds. As soon as the mutualistic relationship is no longer necessary, cutting off ties is both natural and easy. But even though the relationships between the Chosen had started that way – as a simple partnership until they could be rescued – things changed. The more time the Chosen Children spent in the Digital World together, the closer they became. Their friendships with one another had become more than just a bond for survival: they began to depend on each other for their camaraderie and support.

Of the Chosen, only Yamato had ever attempted to break away from the group - determined to be strong on his own, even if it meant leaving his brother behind. But even he had grown to see how foolish it was to think that his bond with the others could be so easily forsaken.

Even after the Chosen Children managed to save the Digital World and returned home to Odaiba, their bonds remained strong. It wasn't because of their shared knowledge of Digimon or because of their status Chosen Children that they remained connected. It was because they had all touched each other's lives. They had left their mark upon one another, altering them forever from who they used to be. And though they were scattered all over Tokyo and Mimi eventually moved away to America, they continued to be there for one another. Rather than having time and distance slowly decay that special bond between them, the years merely strengthened it.

When the school districts overlapped a few years later and Taichi, Sora, Koushiro, and Yamato were able to go to school with one another, it was inevitable that the four of them would become incredibly close. How could they not, intertwined as they were in each other's lives? Even as they involved themselves in separate interests – Yamato created the TEENAGE WOLVES, Sora earned a spot in the tennis club, Taichi established his name as a formidable soccer player, and Koushiro single-handedly resurrected the computer club – they grew closer than ever before. It was a thrilling time in Yamato's life. It seemed as if anything was possible with his best friends by his side, supporting him. But it was also a rather trying time as well.

After all, it was during the intermediate school years that Yamato and his peers experienced the unpleasant side-effects of puberty.

It was around that time that Yamato first became aware of his growing affection for Sora. If someone were to ask him (unlikely) and he were inclined to answer (doubtful), he wouldn't have been able to pinpoint when exactly he had started liking Sora in _that_ way. Certainly not in primary school, though; back then, they had merely been good friends who just happened to be of different genders. It wasn't a big deal. But somewhere in the middle of that first year of intermediate school, Yamato had developed an awareness of Sora that he had never possessed before.

He had had passing crushes on other girls before, of course, but all of them had started because of the most inane reasons. But his crush on Sora had been completely different.

The first thing that clued him in was that he had begun to notice more often the way she wore her school uniform (straight and neatly ironed); the way she did her hair (bangs swept to the side, occasionally pinned, and ends naturally flipped out); the way she carried herself when she spoke to other girls (shoulders squared, feet together, hands gesturing widely when she emphasized a point). She had always been different from other girls to him; that was something that Yamato had known for a long time. Her confidence, alongside her compassion and empathy, made Yamato regard Sora more highly than other girls.

It was only during intermediate school, though, that he began to understand that he more than just liked Sora's many admirable qualities. He liked Sora - period. It was simple as that.

Except… it wasn't simple at all. In fact, it was ridiculously complicated. After the bewilderment that came with his realization that he had a crush on one of his best friends came the frustration: could Sora possibly see him as more than just another childhood friend? Even more frustrating: if she could, _would_ she ever reciprocate his feelings? Yamato wasn't sure. Sora was different from other girls. And while most of the time he appreciated that fact about her, he now found it agonizingly vexing – because it meant that he couldn't read her actions by comparing them to the way other girls acted.

All of the other girls that Yamato knew at school acted predictably. They liked to gush to their friends whenever they decided that they had a crush on someone. Though the girls tried to keep things like that amongst themselves, they weren't exactly subtle: all a guy had to do was walk past a group of girls and wait for them to giggle to know that one of them had to have some kind of crush on him. Not only that, but girls had an alarming tendency to trust 'best friends' who had no qualms about sharing 'secrets'. It had been common practice at school for guys to bribe girls with candy for inside information, and that candy was rarely ever refused.

But Sora didn't do any of that. She didn't giggle when a guy walked past her. She had more composure than that. And if she did like anyone, she kept it to herself. Even Taichi had complained to Yamato about it on one occasion.

"Sora's not normal. She's not like other girls," Taichi had declared as they walked home from a long day in the Digital World.

Used to Taichi's abrupt subject changes, Yamato had merely asked mildly, "Is that a bad thing?"

"It's not _bad_. It's just… confusing. I mean, she's never told me if she's ever liked anyone before. Isn't that… I don't know… weird?" Taichi sounded worried. "I'm her best friend. If she _did_ like someone, she's never said anything to me before. Do you think it's because she thinks she can't trust me?"

"Well, it might just be because you're a guy. If she liked someone, she'd probably go to Piyomon or Mimi before she went to you." Even as Yamato had reasoned with Taichi patiently, he secretly had been disappointed as well. Yamato had been counting on Sora to talk to Taichi if she happened to like someone; in fact, he'd been building up the courage to ask Taichi if he thought Yamato stood a chance. But he was going to have to try a different source to find out if she liked anyone, now. He made a mental note to himself to be even nicer to Piyomon and Mimi in the future. "Or maybe she just hasn't found anyone to like yet," Yamato added as an afterthought.

Taichi sighed heavily and dropped the subject after that, and the two of them walked back to their respective homes in silence. Afterward, Yamato and Taichi never revisited the topic again.

That didn't mean that Yamato got over his crush on Sora, though. He actually continued holding onto his secret attachment for Sora, a fact that he didn't dare to act upon or speak of to anyone except Gabumon. Part of this was because of fear. He was certain that if he told anyone else, they'd laugh at him, or tell him that he didn't stand a chance. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to survive the mortification of that happening to him.

But aside from his fear, he was also reluctant to act on his feelings because he didn't have any experience. What was he supposed to do or say to Sora to encourage the idea of a relationship between the both of them? And where, exactly, was he supposed to get to the courage to even suggest a relationship between them in the first place? Yamato eventually resigned himself to the fact that Sora would simply never know of his feelings. It was an unhappy, but necessary, decision for him. When he seriously thought about it, the friends that Yamato was able to count as close to him were only a precious few – and Sora was one of them. He didn't dare do anything to lose her, and attempting to gamble their friendship on wishful thinking definitely qualified as something that was certain to make him lose her friendship.

Sora didn't need to know, and it would be better for the both of them if Yamato could end his feelings for her by keeping his distance until they faded.

No matter how hard he reasoned with himself that it would be better if he simply avoided her until his feelings went away, though, Yamato continually found himself in situations that brought him closer to Sora throughout the school year. They had many classes together, and each time the opportunity to do pair work came up, Sora's eyes always managed to find his. Not only that, but his band practices just so happened to end at the same time as her tennis club practices… which meant that they would almost always see each other after school. And if they happened to see each other long enough to say hi, then Yamato would almost always end up offering to walk Sora home.

In his defense, he didn't like the idea of Sora walking home by herself, even if Odaiba was harmless.

It was because of those long walks home, though, that Yamato and Sora really began to become best friends. The walk home made it easy for them to talk comfortably with each other. It wasn't that they couldn't speak easily before; even when they hadn't been so close to each other, Yamato had always found Sora an easy person to talk to. But their daily walks allowed them to share some of the deeper thoughts that occupied their minds in a way that normal conversations didn't, and that helped to solidify their friendship into something stronger.

Their walking home together was both a blessing and a curse to Yamato. He had never been able to spend so much time alone with Sora before, and he enjoyed every moment he spent with her thoroughly. But all that time alone wasn't exactly helping him to get over her either. In fact, it only put him in more danger of falling for her further.

The following year of school ended Yamato's walks with Sora, which he took with equal measures of relief and disappointment. Tennis club practices still went on as usual, but it was the band that changed. With the start of the new school year, the WOLVES had begun to spend more time together in order to hopefully find a label that would be willing to sign them on. As they spent more time in the underground, they had become more and more aware of the fact that they would never be able to achieve the level of success they wanted unless they had a manager and a label behind them.

Up until then, they had done everything independently – whether it was finding places to perform or hunting down studios that would let them record their tracks. Having to do all the work on their own was tedious and time consuming, and it also labeled the WOLVES as amateurs to the scene. It was easy to dismiss a band that had no label to their name. Once they were with a proper label, though, they could start to host actual performances and sell their CD's at chain music stores. They would become a force to be reckoned with, and that was something that Yamato, Akira, Yutaka, and Takahashi all wanted.

Between attempting to find a label, dealing with his family, and balancing an increasing heavy load of homework, Yamato had little free time to spend socializing with his other friends. It made him feel bad, but he made up for it when he could – namely by going to all of those Digimon meetings that Taichi liked to hold every so often.

It was actually in that year that one of their most important meetings took place. Taichi had alerted them all to the discovery of a new generation of Chosen Children – as well as the arrival of the self-styled 'Digimon Kaiser'. Yamato immediately worried about Gabumon's safety at the news of the Digimon Kaiser, just like everyone else worried about the safety of their partners. But he tried to focus on the positive parts of Taichi's news. The gates into the Digital World were fickle; they only allowed the older generation of Chosen to cross between the worlds once in a while, a fact that Yamato hated as much as the next Chosen. Therefore, the fact that these new Chosen – along with Takeru and Hikari –could enter the Digital World more easily was a good thing. It meant that, sooner or later, the Digimon Kaiser would be brought to justice. Even if Yamato couldn't be at the frontlines of the action himself this time around, he was glad that Gabumon and the others would have new allies to help them.

When Taichi ended the meeting, Yamato hung behind – first to talk to Takeru, and then to talk to Sora. After he and Takeru said good-bye, he saw that Sora and Jyou were just saying their good-byes as well, and he walked over to join her side.

"– just a little bit nervous. It is a big deal," Jyou was saying while adjusting his glasses. "But I'm trying not to worry too much."

"That's good, Jyou. If you freak yourself out too much, you'll end up hurting your chances more than helping them." Sora patted him on the shoulder. "I know you'll do well. Keep your spirits up, okay? I'll be rooting for you!"

"We all will be," Yamato added warmly, clapping Jyou on the other shoulder. "Jyou, if anyone can kick butt on that national exam, it would be you. I mean it."

"You guys are putting way too much pressure on me," Jyou said humbly, his face flushing unevenly pink from being at the receiving end of their attention. "But I'll do my best, that's for sure!" He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "All right, I'd better get going. I need a good night's rest for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll see you guys soon."

"Let us know how it went as soon as you finish, okay Jyou?" Sora called after him as he walked away. Jyou turned back to smile and give a thumbs up before turning continuing on his way. When he turned around the corner block, Sora settled her eyes on Yamato. "Hey, you," she said with a bright smile.

"Hi Sora." Yamato casually smiled back. He tugged at his bass strap to shift it to a more comfortable position, hoping that he would be able to seem nonchalant. It had been a while since he'd been able to speak to Sora outside of school like this, and those damn butterflies in his stomach were threatening to make him feel tongue-tied. "How's it going?"

Sora brushed her bangs out of her face as she tilted her head up to look at him. "All right, I guess. I've just been really busy with tennis and school, you know?" Her eyes trailed up higher before coming back down to rest on his eyes again. She laughed and then teased, "Yamato, I didn't know that you'd finally decided to stop forcing your hair against the pull of gravity."

"Huh? Oh yeah. Well, I, uh, thought it was a good time to change things up," Yamato said, fighting the impulse to touch the newly cut strands self-consciously. It was no secret among his friends that he was more anal about his hair than most people, a direct result of often being the only blond in his classes. It was hard for his hair to escape attention, and so he hated having it look bad, if even for a moment. "You… don't like it?" Yamato asked hesitantly, mentally preparing to go to the nearest convenience store for new hairspray if she said voiced her disapproval or indifference. He cursed the stylist who had so smoothly talked him into changing his hair.

Sora lowered her face to the ground, as if she was unwilling to meet his eyes for fear of not being able to keep a straight face. Yamato noted with dismay that the tips of her ears had turned pink, as if she was trying her hardest to master herself. So it was to his surprise when she finally spoke, voice slightly shaking, "Actually, I think that I _do_ like it." When Sora lifted her eyes back up at him, he saw that her expression – far from strained to keep from laughing – was actually quite thoughtful. "Having your hair down like this really suits you, Yamato. It's very… dashing." She unexpectedly reached up to twine her fingers briefly in the locks, taking Yamato off guard. She smiled and continued, "It definitely fits your whole musician persona. I think it'll be a big success with your fans."

He was still struggling to come up with an adequate response to her rather generous compliment when Taichi came up between them and threw his arms around both their shoulders. "You know what? I agree with Sora. It's definitely a lot better than that bird-nest-hair thing that you used to have going on," Taichi interjected cheerfully. "Our Yamato has finally developed a decent sense of style."

"Well, at least I got _out_ of the 'bird-nest-hair' phase," Yamato countered as he raised an eyebrow, feeling a mixture of relief and annoyance at Taichi's timely appearance. He continued daringly, knowing that what he was about to say would cause some trouble, "You, on the other hand, seem determined to stick with it forever. Just watch, Taichi. One of these days, you'll get arrested for single-handedly making a hole in the ozone layer from all of that hairspray you use to keep that mess sticking up."

Just as he predicted, Yamato was forced to quickly duck out of the way of Taichi's answering swipe and run away. Taichi followed in hot pursuit, and hurling insults at Yamato as he went. Yamato managed to get halfway down the block before he got caught (Taichi did have more practice with sprinting, after all). But even though Yamato got his hair completely messed up by his best friend in retaliation, it had been worth it - because once Sora caught up with them, she took it upon herself to carefully fix Yamato's hair. It was the first time that Sora had ever touched his hair in such a way, and Yamato found the sensation surprisingly relaxing despite Taichi complaining the entire time of Sora's favoritism.

Yamato treasured those brief moments he had with Sora and the other Chosen, reliving the memory of them often as the school year became more and more hectic, testing his sanity at every turn. Luckily, life settled down once Takahashi managed to find a label for the TEEN-AGE WOLVES. Although they ended up holding more performances after signing onto the label, a lot of the pressure from preparing for a concert was taken off of their shoulders. Their manager took care of all of the details, allowing Yamato and his band to just focus on practicing and freeing up a lot of their time.

On the day of the WOLVES' holiday concert, rather than having to run errands to make sure that everything was running smoothly, Yamato had been able to relax. The free time was definitely appreciated because the day held special significance for Yamato beyond just being the WOLVES' first concert at a performance stadium.

Though no one else knew it, it was the day that Yamato planned to finally tell Sora that he liked her.

Many months had passed now since his initial realization of his feelings for Sora. Though he had originally resolved not to say anything, believing himself capable of getting over her, it was becoming clearer to him with each passing day that that was not the case. Even with the free time Yamato now had, it was still rare for him to be able to see Sora at all. Surely their infrequent meetings, if nothing else, would finally force his feelings to die. There was that old adage, wasn't there? 'Out of sight, out of mind'? Although he was saddened by the fact that his feelings for Sora never came to fruition, he tried to force himself to accepting it and moving on.

Only… his feelings didn't die. It seemed impossible, but Yamato felt that the distance between him and Sora had only strengthened his affection for her. How else could he explain the fact that he continually had a hard time relaxing around her, the few times they met? Why else had every lull in their conversations become an enormous struggle for Yamato to stop himself blurting out the truth to her entirely?

It had become too much for him to handle, and Yamato realized that the only way that his agony would end would be if he gathered his courage to tell her the truth about how he felt. He didn't know exactly what he would say to her when he confessed his feelings, nor did he have any idea of what to do after he told her. All he knew was that he had to tell Sora about his feelings as honestly and truthfully as possible, and he would face whatever answer she had for him with squared shoulders and an open mind.

The morning of the concert, Yamato was unexpectedly reunited with Gabumon (the younger kids had thoughtfully brought all the partner Digimon from the Digital World as 'presents') and he couldn't recall a time he had been happier to see his partner. Gabumon was the only friend he could turn to for help with the 'Sora Situation', as Gabumon liked to call it, and Yamato wasted no time in asking Gabumon to wait with him backstage before the concert. Gabumon gamely agreed to pretend to be a stuffed animal, and the two partners locked themselves into an empty waiting room in the concert stadium so that they could catch up with each other in privacy.

After the initial excitement of seeing each other wore off a bit, Gabumon noticed with his usually sensitivity that Yamato was on edge. After questioning him about it, Yamato self-consciously admitted to Gabumon what his intentions were for the day. The Digimon reacted to the news with pride and excitement. "I always thought that you should have told her a long time ago," Gabumon had told Yamato, a pleased grin spreading over his furry face. He clasped Yamato's hands between his paws, as if to transfer resolve through touch, before he said encouragingly, "Have courage, Yamato! Things will turn out just fine, just you wait and see."

Though Yamato smiled, he shook his head in response. As much as he wanted to be optimistic, the anxiety churning through his stomach made it hard for Yamato positively. "I wish I had your confidence, Gabumon. You always see the silver lining while all I can see are the clouds."

"Oh, come on, Yamato. Don't be so pessimistic," Gabumon reprimanded, patting the back of Yamato's hand comfortingly. "You can do it, I _know_ you can. All you have to do is be sincere about your feelings, and I'm sure that that will help Sora realize that you two make a nice pair."

"I wish things would work out that easily." Yamato sighed before attempting to joke, "Well, just promise me that after I get rejected, you'll cheer me up, okay? If Sora doesn't like me, I know that I'll have no choice but to accept her feelings for what they are… but I'm still going to be a mess anyway. And if I end up being a mess, only you will be able to help me snap out of it." He managed a small smile for his partner.

Gabumon's dark eyes were bright with emotion in the face of Yamato's gloominess. Impulsively, Gabumon threw his arms around his partner and nearly squeezed the breath out of Yamato. "Of course I will be there for you afterward. You're my best friend, and I'm here for you always, no matter if it's in the good times or bad."

"Well, that's a relief to hear." Yamato chuckled and hugged Gabumon back. "It's good to know that I'll always have you by my side."

"Always," Gabumon promised. A moment later, though, the Digimon pulled away, frowning slightly. He sniffed the air carefully, and his frowning expression became thoughtful instead. "Yamato, I think I smell cookies!"

"Cookies? Where?"

Without heeding Yamato, Gabumon unlocked the door. "I'll be right back; I want to see where these cookies are coming from –"

Yamato sat up a moment too late and quickly tried to stop his partner. "Wait, Gabumon - you can't go out there by yourself, what if someone sees you?"

But Gabumon dodged Yamato's grasp, confident. "It's okay, Yamato, it's just Sora! I'll be fine!"

"Wait, what? Sora? Gabumon, wait!"

While Yamato stood frozen in place, Gabumon had the chance to hurry out of the room. What was Sora doing here, backstage? He thought that she would be waiting in the audience already with the other Chosen. After all, he'd already given her the tickets for her seat…

When he finally came back to his senses, Yamato quickly left the waiting room to get to the hallway – just as Gabumon led Sora around the corner to face him. Gabumon had a knowing expression on his face that would have given Yamato pause at any other time; however, he was too preoccupied with his best friend's unexpected arrival to feel apprehensive about the way Gabumon was acting.

"Hi, Yamato." Sora smiled and, shifting a green and red package to one hand, combed back a strand of hair behind her ear. "I hope it's okay that I came to see you. I didn't know if you'd be busy preparing for your concert or not, but Piyomon thought that there was probably still some time."

"Of course it's okay," Yamato replied automatically. "I just, uh, didn't know that you were planning on coming to see me before my concert, that's all." He belatedly noticed that Gabumon had disappeared, but his rapidly thumping heart demanded that he pay attention to Sora instead of his missing Digimon partner.

_Should I tell her now? _Yamato wondered uncertainly. Although he was startled by her sudden arrival, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. After the concert was over, the Chosen had all planned to go out and eat together - it would probably be hard for him to find a quiet moment alone with Sora then.

He took a deep breath. "Sora -"

"Excuse me!" an all-too-familiar voice apologized quickly. "This is for Yamato!"

And with that, Sora and Yamato were loudly interrupted by another red head who skid her shoes to a stop as she almost collided into Sora.

Yamato blinked, trying to wrap his head around everything that was happening. "Jun? What are you doing here?" he blurted out, more than a little horrified that the older girl had practically appeared out of nowhere. How did she do that? He was so shocked that he didn't even have the presence of mind to make his words more polite.

Luckily (or perhaps unluckily - Yamato was never sure, with her), Jun didn't notice. She merely shook her arms slightly, as if wanting to bring Yamato's attention to the pile of packages she carried in her arms. "I wanted to give you your presents, see?" Jun answered excitedly. "These are all for you. I picked them out and got them gift-wrapped at the store this morning. Aren't they all so pretty?"

Yamato cast a nervous look in Sora's direction, who was watching Jun bemusedly. "Uh… well, yeah. But Jun, don't you think that this is all just a little –"

"Of course, I have something for the other TEEN-AGE WOLVES, but I wanted to give you _your_ presents specially!" she continued, not paying attention to his answer in the slightest. "I hope you like them, Yamato! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to get you."

Yamato awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of a way to get rid of Jun without being overtly rude. If he didn't, Jun would continue to chatter away, and he'd never be able to talk to Sora. "Well, that's… really nice of you. Very… thoughtful." _Think faster, Ishida, come on_! Yamato then said in a rush, hoping his desperation wasn't showing, "I really appreciate the gesture, Jun – but I actually can't let you stay back here. The concert's going to start soon and I have to get ready – maybe we can do the presents thing later? After I'm done performing? The others will be available then too, and you could give us your presents all at once –"

Jun was immediately all apologies. "Oh my gosh, I am _so_ sorry, I totally forgot!" She sounded so horrified with herself that it would have been comical if Yamato hadn't been teetering on the edge of losing his patience. "You're right. We can do this later. Yamato, you promised, so don't forget okay?" Jun barreled out of the hallway in the same fashion that she had entered it, leaving Yamato and Sora behind to look at each other in a rather awkward silence.

"Um. I'm sorry for taking up your time, Yamato. Since you're busy, I guess I should go too," Sora said, embarrassed, after a moment of the both of them wordlessly staring at each other. "I just thought that I'd – I'd say good luck in person. Before you go on. So, uh. Good luck." Her cheeks flamed in a blush as she dropped her gaze down to the ground.

If the heat suddenly radiating from his face was any indication, his expression very much mirrored hers. Yamato looked away as well, miserable. She probably found it uncomfortable to wish him good luck after the way they'd been interrupted, and Yamato felt guilty that Jun had failed to even acknowledge Sora's presence.

Despite his discomfort, however, he couldn't just let her well-wishes hang in the air. "You don't have to go, I just said that because… er, anyway. Thanks, Sora. That means a lot to me," he stuttered. As soon as he said the words, he nearly kicked himself. How incomprehensible had _that_ sounded? Talk about self-sabotage! Yamato raised his head and cast around his mind for a better way of expressing his thanks. If he didn't fix this awkwardness soon, the chance of her accepting him when he found his courage would be just about zero.

Before he could speak, though, Sora's head had already lifted. She looked him in the eyes and smiled, her embarrassment evidently under control again. "Are you nervous?" she asked with genuine concern. "There's a huge crowd still waiting in line outside… and this is a big concert for you guys."

"Is there really?" Yamato considered himself for a moment. Was he nervous? He shook his head slightly. Any anxiety he might have felt about performing in front of hundreds of people paled in comparison to the nervous wreck that the girl in front of him was turning him into."You know… I don't feel nervous," Yamato said finally. "It almost feels like it's just another performance, despite the venue change. I guess it hasn't really hit me yet. "

"That's good." Sora nodded. "Just stay calm… and you'll be great, like always."

Yamato fought the impulse to flush at Sora's compliment. Preoccupied as he was with trying to maintain his composure, however, he unintentionally allowed another silence to fall over them. Yamato nearly groaned in frustration. Really, how much worse could he screw up his chances? How could he confess to her later with this - this unbearable _awkwardness_ between them? As much as he didn't want to, he knew that he had to send Sora to her seat. He needed time to regroup, to take control of his thoughts.

With that in mind, Yamato he forced a smile. "Well, thanks for stopping by, Sora, it was really nice of you –" _Nice? _Nice_? Where did _that_ come from? _"– to wish me luck. And I'll pass it on to the rest of the band too; I know that they'll appreciate it." He shifted his weight on his feet. "Listen, I don't want you have to go and find your seat by yourself. Just wait for me here while I go look around here to see who's not busy –"

"Wait, Yamato." Sora's gloved hand reached out to take a hold of his jacket sleeve, making Yamato stop in place. She let go and took a breath. "I appreciate your offer for help, but first I – I have something for you."

It was only then, when Sora carefully presented her gift to him, that Yamato realized he never asked her whose gift it was that she had been holding on to. As she held it for him to take, Yamato noticed that Sora had probably been carrying it around all day: the green wrapping paper had worn through in one corner, and the artful red bow had started to pull loose.

She saw his gaze and laughed deprecatingly at herself. "I wrapped it myself," she explained, blushing, "so that's why it doesn't look as perfectly well done as Jun's, if that's what you're wondering. And I don't really like the premade bows that they sell at the store either, so I made my own – "

Yamato shook his head quickly and interrupted her explanation with a grin. "Sora, it's fine. It's perfect - don't you know that homemade is always the best way to go?" he teased, chuckling when she blushed and ducked her head.

A small flame of heat flared in his chest at her thoughtful gesture. He couldn't remember the last time anyone did something like this for him. And the fact that _Sora_ had done this - it made him more hopeful than he'd been during their entire conversation so far.

But as much as Yamato wanted to accept the gift, he knew that he couldn't accept it. Speaking slowly, doing his best to respectfully defer her present without hurting her feelings, Yamato said, "But Sora… I know that it's Christmas and everything, but… well, you didn't need to get me a present. You know how - how it is." What he left unspoken was what Sora already knew: he couldn't exchange gifts at Christmas because he couldn't afford to. Even with the money he was starting to make from the band in addition to his father's salary, the financial situation of the Ishida's was tight at the best of times.

"I know, Yamato. But I'm not trying to make you feel…" Sora struggled before shaking her head, sighing softly. "Yamato, this gift… this is something that I've been meaning to give you for a long time now. I – nothing would make me happier than if you accepted my present," Sora admitted, her eyes meeting and then flitting away from his, "but at least open it to consider first. If you feel like it's too much then, I'll understand. But you have to at least open it and see."

She held the gift out to him again, though her gaze kept to the floor. "Please, Yamato."

Yamato's mouth went dry, knowing that this time, he could not refuse her request. Hesitantly, Yamato took the present from her, subconsciously noting how the present's weight distribution changed as he shifted it. "Would you like me to open it now?" he asked her, suddenly nervous.

"If you have time, please." She still didn't look up; the only motion she made was to wrap her hands around her arms, as if she were cold.

Looking down at the gift in his hands, Yamato nodded. "I have time."

He unwrapped the package slowly, since he had to balance it on one hand while he undid it with the other. When he struggled with the ribbon, Sora reached out to help him with it. At last, after all of the coverings had been peeled away, only a simple white box remained. With a thrill of expectation, Yamato lifted the lid – revealing a dozen rows of stacked cookies, shaped as trees and gingerbread men and covered in powders of green and red.

Yamato's eyebrows pushed together in confusion.

Why had Sora gone through so much trouble just to give him cookies? It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the gift – he loved baked goods as much as the next person. But after the way Sora had insisted on his opening the gift, as well as the way she had been acting so nervously about his accepting them… well, in the face of the rather anticlimactic reveal, Yamato felt inexplicably disappointed.

Manners, however, made Yamato give a small, if somewhat confused, smile to Sora. "They look delicious, Sora. Thank you." She didn't say anything, seemingly frozen by his distant response, and Yamato tried again, "Really, they smell amazing too. I'm going to have to hide them from Gabumon - you know how he can't resist desserts."

There was a beat of awkward silence before Sora nodded. "That's good to hear. I mean –" suddenly, her voice became quiet and slightly strained, "it took me a long time to get the recipe right… I've never made cookies for anyone before, so I didn't really, um, know what I was doing, to be honest." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear nervously. "So I'm glad that you… like them."

The warmth in Yamato's chest was unexpectedly fanned at Sora's words. "You made these?" Yamato repeated. Surprised, he looked at the cookies again with renewed appreciation. She hadn't bought the cookies for him at the store – she had _made_ them, and just for _him_. Yamato could feel the affection that he felt for her growing. How was it possible that someone as kind-hearted as Sora was his friend? "Wow, Sora… thank you. Really, thank you."

He raised his eyes back to Sora's face, and was startled to see that she still looked incredibly uncomfortable and – was she scared? Worried, Yamato took a step closer to her. "Sora? Is something wrong?" When she still looked away, he said her name again more softly. "Sora?"

She took a breath – to steady herself? – before looking at him. And when Yamato searched her eyes for some insight on what was going through her mind, he found himself becoming unexpectedly knocked breathless. Because her eyes weren't filled with nervousness or fear. When she looked back at him, her eyes were filled with a fierce emotion that Yamato couldn't name – and yet seeing it somehow managed to tighten his throat and his heart at the same time. In the face of his silence, Sora spoke directly to him, her chin tilted up almost in defiance. "Yamato, I know that what I'm about to say might end up making you think less of me," she said rapidly, eyes bright, "but I really don't care about that anymore."

Yamato's body froze in nervous anticipation.

"I like you." Her cheeks flushed red at her bold words, but her expression did not change to one of regret or embarrassment. Her words only made her seem even more determined to speak her mind. "I've liked you for a long time now, Yamato. So much. And I've wanted to tell you – I just didn't know how."

It was longing, Yamato realized belatedly as he stared at Sora. That emotion that he saw in Sora's eyes, that emotion that was still in her eyes now as she looked back at him: it was longing. There was no other way to describe it. And he knew, even though the word had eluded him at first, why he had reacted so instantly to it. Longing was an emotion that he had associated to Sora in his own mind for so long now, an emotion that he had been so sure was completely one-sided. To see it being echoed in Sora's eyes when she looked at _him_ – it was more than Yamato could bear.

His heart swelled with warmth, with an indescribable joy. Sora liked him. She liked him – had _been_ liking him, maybe for just as long as he had been liking her. How was this even possible?

Yamato felt the urge to say something to her – to let her know that her feelings were more than just accepted, but that they were reciprocated. But what could he say? "Thank you?" There was no way he would be able to convey the depth of his gratitude, his sheer happiness, to her in those two overused words – and even then, the words seemed inadequate compared to her heartfelt confession.

Suddenly, he wished that he had some script to follow, as if this moment were a movie. Because in a movie, there was no awkwardness between the hero and the heroine when their feelings for each other were finally realized: there would simply be a moment of silence, perhaps, before the man leaned forward to kiss his woman, the swell of an orchestra playing in the background. But this was real life, and Yamato was not a man… just barely a teenage boy. He didn't dare be that forward with Sora, no matter how attractive the idea of kissing her suddenly seemed to be.

Before he even realized what he was doing, Yamato impulsively reached forward to hold her gloved fingers in his hand. He squeezed it tenderly. "Sora," he said with a smile, the growing happiness in his chest filling in him and expanding and lifting him high. And even though all he could say was her name, it seemed as if she was able to understand him perfectly in that instant. At his gentle touch, the fierce defiance of just a few moments ago was instantly replaced by an incredulous joy that mirrored the way he felt. His smile widening at her almost dazed expression, Yamato found the courage to speak to her sincerely. "Sora, I can't – I can't tell you how much hearing you say – how much it _means_ to me."

His fervent words seemed to bring Sora out of her daze, and she squeezed Yamato's hand back. "It's okay - I know."

They shared a searing glance with each other then, eyes filled with mutual wonder from the sheer impossibility of the moment. The very air seemed to hum with the tangible feeling of promise and exhilaration.

But the moment was interrupted a second later. "All right, everyone, we have TEN MINUTES LEFT until the concert begins," the WOLVES' manager suddenly hollered, startling Yamato and Sora. Their hands immediately fell apart when the manager poked his head around the corner. "Ishida! I've been looking for you for the past fifteen minutes. Akira's been saying that he needs your opinion on an idea for an adlib or something –"

"I'll be right there," Yamato promised quickly. "Just give me a sec?" The manager nodded and hurried off, and Yamato turned back to look at Sora. "I guess we lost track of time," he said, grinning. He was relieved to note that the awkwardness between them - probably caused by their mutual anxiety - had completely dissipated. Things were easy between them once more.

"You can say that again," Sora agreed, blushing and laughing.

He offered his elbow to her. "Come on. Let's find Gabumon so that you can go to your seats together, okay?"

She took his elbow. "Good idea. Thank you."

When they found Gabumon sitting in the waiting room, his face split into a grin upon spotting Sora's hand on Yamato's elbow but otherwise didn't comment. He only acted after Yamato pointed out the easiest way for them to get to their seats. As soon as Sora stepped away, Gabumon threw himself around Yamato's legs and hugged his partner tightly, nearly making Yamato topple over in surprise. And before Yamato could recover, Gabumon had already pulled away, hurrying after Sora so that they could get to their seats.

That concert remained to be one of Yamato's favorite performances of all, for many reasons. Of those reasons, there were two that he considered above all the rest. The first reason was because that Christmas concert was the first time that Gabumon had been able to watch him perform live with the TEEN-AGE WOLVES. And the second?

It was the first time Sora could listen to his music and finally understand that all of the songs he sang were performed with her in mind.

Yamato smiled to himself, the warmth and happiness of the time washing over him. He knew that he would cherish the memory of those days for years to come yet, and it wasn't an unpleasant revelation.

But Yamato's reverie was cut short then by a vibration in his pocket. Fishing his phone out, he glanced at the caller ID and paused, the warmth and happiness fading away as he considered the screen.

_Yagami Taichi_.

He couldn't help himself: his brow furrowed as he looked down at the phone. There was no way of knowing for sure, but he suspected that Taichi was calling in order to interrogate him for the reason behind his disappearance at dinner… or perhaps Taichi wanted to further rehash their earlier argument over the WOLVES and Sora.

Either way, Yamato wasn't in the mood to be tolerant. The prospect of having to argue with Taichi held no appeal to him, and he toyed with idea of simply ignoring Taichi. There was a nagging sense in the back of his mind, however, that whispered to Yamato that maybe Taichi was calling about something important. Taichi usually preferred to text messages to people, and the fact that he was calling made Yamato wonder if there was some urgent issue at hand. In the end, it was Yamato's sense of duty that compelled him to step outside the club to answer his phone.

"Taichi?"

"What the hell took you so long?"

"I was busy with something." Yamato frowned but kept his ire contained in case something important had happened. "Why are you calling?"

Taichi ignored his question and instead demanded, "When are you coming back to the cabin? Have the WOLVES left yet?"

At that, Yamato sighed. So the Digital World was fine - that was a relief. But that also meant that Taichi had called only to continue their fight. Yamato's impatience with his friend leaked into his tone when he responded, "Not that it's any of your business, but I might be a while."

"They're still _here_?" Taichi hissed. "What the hell - wait, you didn't sneak out of camp with them, did you?"

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Just get to the point, Taichi. I don't have time to listen to you lecture me."

Taichi didn't respond right away. Pressing the phone closer to his ear, Yamato could just make out the sounds of Taichi, Kohei, and Wakana's voices. He couldn't distinguish what they were saying, but Yamato waited despite his irritation for Taichi to answer. Why was Taichi calling him when he was hanging out with everyone else?

When Taichi spoke again, his voice was flat in a forced calm. "I'm going to tell you something important. So even though you're mad at me - and don't think this call changes anything, I'm still pissed at you - listen very carefully to what I have to say." He added roughly, "And whatever you do, _don't_ let Sora know that you heard this from me."

Irritation gave way to nervous curiosity, and Yamato felt a queer sense of foreboding creep over him at Taichi's words. "Okay. I'm listening."

"This morning, I told you that having the WOLVES here would hurt Sora. I _told_ you, and you didn't believe me. But at lunch, when they arrived, you didn't even bother to look at her face, did you?" Taichi's voice rose in anger and he all but spat the words into the phone. "No, you just had to go and ditch us without even a second glance back. And you know what? You're lucky. You're lucky, because unlike the rest of us, you didn't have to look at the expression on her face when you just abandoned her for _them_. But the rest of us had to watch her practically fall apart - all because of _you_."

Taichi continued to rant but Yamato stopped listening, frozen as he was in disbelieving silence.

Again, he had hurt Sora. Again, he had screwed everything up. How many chances did he have left before he lost her completely?

When he didn't respond for a long time, Taichi had to call his name several times before Yamato sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah?"

"Look, I don't care where you are right now. I don't even care about the WOLVES." Taichi's voice had lost its anger. Now he simply sounding tired, making Yamato feel a twist of guilt for being so difficult earlier. "I just… You just have to come back as soon as you can and talk to her. I… don't know if you talking to her will help with anything, not going to lie. I tried talking to her earlier and I thought it helped, but she's been avoiding everyone else." Taichi took a breath. "You're the only one who stands a chance of - of getting through to her, I guess. So you have to at least try."

Yamato kneaded his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Where is she now?"

"She's still painting the mural. I'm pretty sure that she's going to stay there until she's sure that Wakana and Kiku have fallen asleep," Taichi said glumly.

"Okay. I'm on my way."

Yamato felt numb as he closed his phone - very nearly drained of all the energy he had. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. The reason why he had even left camp in the first place was because he wanted the chance to relax, away from the issues that waited for him at camp. But it seemed that his plan had backfired astoundingly. It was as if he had agreed to a cruel trade without being aware of all its terms: hurting Sora and losing her trust in exchange for a few hours of enjoyment with his old friends.

Unable to stand motionlessly any longer, he stepped to the edge of the sidewalk to wave down a taxi. As he slipped into the backseat and gave the directions for Camp Odake, Yamato remembered that the guys would get pissed at him for leaving without saying good-bye. But the guilt he felt for leaving wasn't strong enough to make him want to turn around. He had no time to waste.

Sora was waiting for him.

* * *

At Camp Odake, Taichi's eyes were closed as he rested his head against the wall.

"You did the right thing, Taichi," Kiku said gently, touching him on the shoulder in reassurance.

"Yeah, dude. Yamato'll pay you back for helping him out," Kohei agreed.

Wakana's voice was certain. "Sora will understand."

But Taichi didn't answer. As much as he wanted to agree with what his friends were saying, it didn't make it any easier for him to get over the fact that he had basically broken his promise with Sora so soon.

Silently, he made a new vow to replace the one he had been forced to ignore.

_Sora… this was the last time. From here on out, it's just you and Yamato._


	12. The Tipping Point

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**  
Author's Notes:** A huge, huge 'thank you' to Trisha for kicking me in the ass to get this chapter finished. Thank you also to Sonfaro for allowing me to borrow a tiny bit of dialogue from the inspired "Anniversary" series. If you aren't familiar with Sonfaro's writing and are dying for some well-written, believable post-canon Digimon fanfiction to read, I highly recommend that you take a stop by his page.

Chapters I and XI have been edited since the last time I updated, as an exercise in getting back into writing Sorato. Also, I made the very difficult decision to delete one-shots _Lanterns and Flickering Flames_ and _Cataclysm_. I apologize if you were fond of them, but I daresay that I've found a better home for them somewhere else.

Lastly, an explanation and an apology: I wrote several radically different versions of this chapter before going through an intensive editing process with my beta-reader for months to finally settle on the version you see before you now. While this happened, I also moved to the city and began medical school… hence the ungodly updating wait. On the upside, Chapter XIII is almost finished being written at this very moment. Hopefully my editor and I will have it polished and uploaded within the next month or so, provided I survive finals.

I sincerely thank each and everyone one of you for putting up with me and my ridiculously slow updating history. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter XII: The Tipping Point_

* * *

_Nineteen months ago:_

The cracks first made themselves known to Yamato one quiet winter afternoon.

Due to their schedules – blocked as they were with homework, his band, and her tennis club – Yamato and Sora had made it a habit early on in their dating to at least spend their Saturday mornings together. In the beginning, they usually went to one of the Odaiba parks and took temporary residence of one of the benches for a few hours. In those few hours, they would confide in and reassure each other from the stresses they faced.

As the months passed and they grew more settled into their relationship, their Saturday mornings gradually shifted from outings to study dates at the public library.

On this particular Saturday before a round of exams, Yamato and Sora had been dutifully spending their morning in a private study room, reviewing for their classes. They had been studying in a comfortable silence: Sora had been making flashcards for history, and Yamato had been attempting to practice balancing a list of chemical equations for science. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting very far.

As any beginning chemistry student knows, something as simple as tracking atom transfers from one molecule to another can be easily complicated without a certain amount of focused attention. And despite his best efforts to try and _stay _focused, Yamato's attention was distracted. His thoughts kept getting away from him: shifting first from chemistry to school in general, then to his friends, and ultimately to Sora.

At that, he snuck a quick glance up at Sora while she flipped through her textbook. He then looked back down at his notes, biting his lip.

He and Sora had been together for over a year, now. In that time, they'd become closer to each other than he could have ever imagined. She was his confidant, the first person he turned to when he felt stressed over something. When he was angry, she knew when to leave him be and when to calm him down. Likewise, he was Sora's secret keeper and comforting shoulder. He knew how to read her eyes and her eyebrows. He had learned to read the flare of her nostrils and the pinch of her lips. The intimate knowledge that they shared of each other was the reason why their relationship was so effortless.

And yet, despite how easy and affectionate their relationship was, Yamato felt… discontent.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he winced.

It wasn't as if he wanted to break up with her, though. It wasn't that at all. Yamato still loved Sora, and he still wanted to be with her. That hadn't changed.

However, it was undeniable that their relationship had changed from what it used to be. It had been a gradual change, one so slow that he had barely been aware of it until today. Today, when he stopped to take stock of what they shared – and was overcome with an uncomfortable feeling of imbalance and dissatisfaction. He didn't know how things came to change in this way, nor did he know why. All Yamato knew was that _something_ was missing between them – though there was no telling what it was exactly that they had lost.

Though the realization unsettled Yamato, he knew that voicing his hypothetical worries would accomplish nothing. They would only hurt Sora. So, with a sigh and a crack of his neck, Yamato refocused on the chemistry problems before him and tried to ignore the idea that had insinuated itself into his mind.

Still, even as he tried to ignore those thoughts, Yamato couldn't stop himself from subconsciously acting on them. In the days that followed, Yamato began to pull away from Sora in little, almost imperceptible ways. On those rare nights when Yamato wasn't practicing with the band at the recording studio or trying to catch up on his homework, he found himself passing over opportunities to call Sora. Where it had once been automatic for him to dial her number to talk for a while as soon as he had free time, he now hesitated. Instead, he would dial Yutaka's number, or Minoru's, and would head out the door for a night spent out in the city with them and their other friends. And it was only when a few weeks of hanging out with his other friends had passed – after he had spent some time away from Sora – that clarity finally came to Yamato.

After a year spent at her side, in addition to all the years of friendship they shared before, Yamato had grown to assume that he had learned everything that there was to know about Takenouchi Sora. With the assurance that he knew all the facets of her personality and the details of her history in a way that no one else did, he had lost the desire to peer further into her character. He found himself considering her distantly: wondering, really, when had Sora become so one-dimensional to him.

That thought had been the beginning of the end, for them. Because once the thought had crossed his mind that Sora had lost that spark within her that had made him fall in love with her, disappointment found ways to color his thoughts whenever he regarded his girlfriend. And with time, that disappointment shifted to dissatisfaction - to frustration.

She had no way of knowing it at the time, but Sora actually _had_ noticed a change in the way Yamato acted around her at the same time that he first began to feel uncertain about their future. She had made the error of brushing off his behavior at the time. She attributed his distance to the increasing academic stress as the term progressed. After all, she'd been on edge herself. She nervously crossed off the passing days on her calendar, watching with trepidation how each mark brought them closer to final exams.

Truth be told, she had been grateful that Yamato wasn't making demands on her time that would take her away from her studies. It didn't even cross her mind that whatever distance had crept between them was anything but temporary. She felt certain that things would return back to normal once school was over.

It took the passage of another month before Sora first noticed how distant Yamato had become, even though they were on spring vacation and final exams had long finished. While their relationship had never been the kind that required them to see each other daily or to call for hours at a time, communication had always been an important part of their bond. It was a souvenir of the earliest days of the mutual infatuation – of the time when Yamato walked her home and they began to share their secrets.

As a result, her first indication of how long it had been since she and Yamato had spent quality time with each other was her realization that she had so much to tell him… and didn't know where to find him to rectify the fact.

When they next met and she teased him about his reclusiveness, he didn't react in the way that she would have anticipated. She expected him to perhaps laugh about it and tease her about how much she missed him before planning a date for the two of them; or, even more likely, for him to apologize profusely and explain what was keeping him so busy. What she _wasn't_ expecting was for him to be vague and evasive over his whereabouts.

"Just been busy with the band," he had answered simply with a small shrug of his shoulders – his gaze avoiding hers the entire time. "It's nothing."

She tried not to let his avoidance of the subject bother her, but it was an attempt doomed to fail. Sora dwelled on things: it was simply a part of her personality. And so while she let the matter go at the time, she couldn't stop herself from wondering from then on what Yamato was doing when he didn't call – or what he was _really_ doing when he did.

As the months passed in their spring trimester, Sora watched Yamato more carefully than she had before. She noticed that he smiled less often, that he was more frequently tired. He didn't socialize with the other Chosen as often as he used to, spending increasing amounts of time with the WOLVES instead.

The changes became more pronounced when it was just the two of them. He had become distant and strangely rigid around her. He didn't share the details of his week anymore, shrugging when she pressed him with questions. He was reluctant to leave the library on their study dates when she suggested that they leave to go to the movies or out to dinner, citing his homework and general fatigue. "I'd rather just stay here, if that's okay," he would say, his words weighted with weariness.

"Of course," Sora would automatically reply, smiling back. And then she would remember hearing from her classmates about the WOLVES' recent string of parties – of which Yamato was increasingly attending without her – and her smile would fade.

Sora had not expected Yamato to shut her out. But there it was: he never mentioned any parties or other activities around her, and had definitely never invited her to come with him. It hurt her to know that her boyfriend would do such a thing, and it made her wonder if she embarrassed him somehow. After all, she wasn't a part of the 'cool' crowd at school that the WOLVES were so intimately involved in. But the Yamato she once knew would have never cared about something so trivial as school cliques. And with each passing day, it felt like that Yamato – the boy she had trusted and fallen in love with – was growing to become someone who she couldn't quite understand.

Despite her best efforts to bridge the gap between them in the months after their spring break, Sora was almost painfully aware of how much the landscape of their relationship had transmuted against her will. By the time summer came to cover Japan with a heavy blanket of humidity, the little distance that Yamato had placed between them had grown to the point that it strained their every interaction.

That year, most of the Chosen had been able to gather together at the Odaiba bay on the night of July fifteenth. It was the first night of the Obon Festival, a night normally dedicated to the remembrance of those precious family members and friends who had already passed on to the afterlife.

The Chosen Children had appropriated that tradition, performing a little bit of those remembrance rites every summer for those who had sacrificed themselves for the protection of the Chosen in their Digital World journeys. Those individuals gave their lives in order to bring peace to the Digital World; all of the Chosen felt that it was the least that they could do to honor them for believing in the Chosen and trusting them despite their inexperience to carry out their destinies.

The only Chosen Child missing that summer was Mimi, who was stranded in America. Without access to a Digital Port, she had unhappily resigned herself to send her regrets to them by email. They all missed her intensely of course – no one was quite as good as Mimi in rousing the Chosen into high spirits – but they were not about to let one less addition to their company stop them from carrying out their tradition.

Despite the sobering reason behind their gathering, the Chosen were generally cheerful that night. They never had enough opportunities to gather together as they would like, and so most of them were happy to take full advantage of each other's company.

Sora was as cheerful as she could manage. She had hugged all of the younger Chosen in greeting and good-naturedly teased Taichi with Hikari. She helped Jyou assemble the paper lanterns that they would later use in their ritual and discreetly advised Miyako to tone down her flirting so as not to embarrass poor Ken. She did it all with a light voice and a warm smile, and ignored the fact that Yamato was so ensconced in conversation with Koushiro and Iori that he hadn't looked her way once since arriving.

Today of all days, she would not allow him to rattle her. Even though Yamato had screened her calls for at least the past week, even though she felt stretched to her limit in her ability to pretend as if nothing was wrong in their relationship, she would _not _allow it to rule her.

Those were thoughts for another day.

When the initial excitement of being reunited had settled somewhat, Taichi effortlessly claimed his mantle of authority. "Let's gather 'round, guys! Let's do what we came here to do. Did you bring the lighter?" he directed in an aside to Yamato, who had assumed his natural position at Taichi's right-hand side.

Yamato reached into his pocket and tossed his father's silver lighter into Taichi's waiting hands. "Take care of that, man. My dad'll kill me if it gets scuffed."

Taichi nodded. He then turned to the others and gestured at the bench in front of him. "All right, everyone, pick a lantern – "

"Can I get two?" Hikari asked immediately, before anyone moved forward. "I need to do one for Mimi."

"Sure, sure." He waved them on, and the Chosen distributed the lanterns amongst themselves. There was some slight shoving between Daisuke and Miyako as they happened to reach for the same lantern, but Ken quickly separated them and mediated to prevent any physical harm from taking place. Other than that minor incident, it was a straightforward affair.

Taichi moved from Chosen to Chosen, lighting the lanterns efficiently. "Right, I think that's everyone," he said once he lit his own lantern. "Form a circle and we'll start the remembrance." Taichi let the lighter's flame die and tossed it back to Yamato, who caught it one-handedly.

Once everyone had arranged themselves and quieted down, adopting a more solemn mood, the silence covered them. In that hush, even the sounds of traffic in the distance seemed to fade. And gradually, everyone felt the presence of the spirits gathering around them… waiting.

Sora shivered.

In a carrying voice, Yamato began first. "To those we've lost."

One by one, the rest of the Chosen took up their turns to speak.

"Chuumon."

"Wizardmon."

"Leomon."

"Whamon."

"Deramon."

"Mushmon."

"Black WarGreymon."

"Oikawa."

Taichi stepped forward, drawing all eyes to him. "We're here so that we don't forget. We're here to honor the sacrifices people have made for us – the lives that we've lost in our battles. We're here to recognize their importance to our growing up, their importance to our lives. Tonight... we recognize them."

No one moved or spoke for a moment, allowing Taichi's words to sink in. Then, Ken murmured quietly, "With our lanterns, we guide the spirits home."

In unison, the Chosen moved to the waterside. Carefully, they set their paper lanterns into the water and then sat on the bank to watch the tide slowly sweep the lanterns away. As they watched, the feelings of sadness and heavy memories lifted gently from them like a dissipating fog. They were replaced by a sense of peace.

For Sora, the peace gave her courage. She wanted peace to be a part of her life always, not only as a rare occurrence. And at that moment in her life, she couldn't have any peace unless she talked to Yamato. Her resolve solidified. Looking to her side – during their placement of the lanterns, Yamato had appeared next to her – Sora touched Yamato's elbow. "Can we talk?" she whispered, not wanting the others to overhear.

Yamato gave Sora a questioning look. When she remained steadfast in mutely looking back at him, he nodded.

They waited for the other Chosen to disperse. Koushiro and Miyako brought snacks with them from their parents, and soon enough, the rest of their friends headed back to the picnic tables to share the food.

While they waited, though, it didn't escape her notice that Yamato had shifted a distance away from her. The fact filled her with a fluttering nervousness. Now that they were actually going to talk – or at least, Sora hoped that they were – she found herself at a loss for words. She didn't know what she would say.

She shivered again. Despite the humidity, Sora's very core felt as if she were slowly growing numb from the cold, from the icy dread that managed to dog her every step these days. It overwhelmed the transitory peace that she had felt only minutes before. It made her doubt again.

_Maybe this is a mistake._

Fingers twisting in the strands of grass below her, Sora found herself swallowing over and over. She cast about in her mind the right words to say, the perfect words that would coax Yamato into finally opening up to her again. No matter how hard she thought, though, nothing seemed to fit.

In that moment, Sora finally became painfully aware of just how much things had changed between them. She never used to find it so difficult to talk to her boyfriend; in fact, she had always found him one of the easiest people to confide in. And so the icy dread now turned to terror. She was losing Yamato, _had_ been losing him, and she had no idea how it had started. And without knowing that, how could she try to fix it?

Even worse: did _he _want to stop the deterioration? Was he as disturbed by the changes they were facing as she was? Or did he welcome it?

The revelation made her eyes tighten; made each breath heavy and hard to breathe.

How had things come to this point, in such a short space of time? Thinking back, Sora couldn't pinpoint a particular moment at which things had begun to slide. Maybe it had been that first afternoon, when she'd pressed Yamato for the reason behind his reclusiveness. But no matter when it started, it tore at Sora all the same that there were only traces left of their old camaraderie and warmth these days.

It was an effort for her to sit there beside him, to turn her eyes away the fact that he didn't want to be sitting there at all. He didn't have to say it aloud. They'd been together long enough for her to still be able to see the irritation he hid so well. Even now as they sat on the grass, he was tense. His arms were relaxed at his side, but his hands were fisted. Clearly, he wanted nothing more than to leave.

She cast another side glance at Yamato's rigid form after everyone had gone. Well, at least the fact that he had agreed to stay and talk was some consolation, Sora thought glumly. He still had some sort of respect left for their relationship, even if he refused to look her way and give her an opening.

Sora tried hard not to think about how pathetic it was that she now took the smallest scraps from Yamato, so long as he was still beside her.

In the end, Yamato was the one to break the silence first. "Sora?"

For a moment, she didn't answer; she swallowed instead, something bitter and dry in her throat and on her tongue. It was an uncomfortable feeling, one that she was unfortunately growing accustomed to feeling whenever she was in his presence lately. She couldn't find her voice in time to say anything.

After a moment of still silence, Yamato sighed in frustration, moving for the first time since she had touched his elbow to run his hand back through his hair. "Look, it's been a long day, okay? Don't drag this out anymore and just say what you have to say."

Inwardly, she instinctively recoiled from him for his sharp words. Outwardly, however, she fixed her gaze on the lights of greater Tokyo across the bay and forced herself to concentrate on it instead of the hurt that had blossomed in her chest. It wasn't enough to stop some of that hurt from spreading to her words, though. "I just wanted to talk to you about how we never seem to be able to talk to each other anymore like we used to." She swallowed again and forced herself to continue, her words coming out harder than she intended as she became defensive. "But it's pretty obvious to us both that you aren't in the mood to talk to me right now, so don't stay just to placate me. Leave if you don't want to stay."

"Fine, then. I'll leave."

Sora's fingers tightening, her grip around the grass leaves growing so hard that she nearly pulled them out of the ground. She wanted desperately to turn and look at Yamato's face. She had to search his features, to see if there was even the slightest bit of regret to be found in his expression. The fear of not finding anything at all, though, kept her eyes firmly on Tokyo instead. "Fine," she said. Her chest hitched at the calm tone that she tried to force in order to match his coolness.

He stood and was silent for a moment. "Just tell the others that something came up at my house. I'll let Takeru know not to worry."

In shock at his words, Sora found herself turning immediately to look up at Yamato. "Wait – you're not leaving all of us now? But we haven't all been together in a long time – Taichi will – "

"He'll understand." He gave her a hard look before turning away. He continued lowly, "If I stay, they'll know that something's wrong. I don't want to spoil the night for everyone else."

It went unspoken between them that Sora had spoilt the night for Yamato. She bit her lip and turned away from Yamato herself so that there would be no chance of him seeing how close to tears she felt. "Okay. I'll… I'll let them know." Her head bowed and she closed her eyes.

She heard him leave a moment later. He didn't say goodbye.

At first, it had been disheartening to watch Yamato pull away from her. She had tried to fix the rift between them, often brainstorming for ways to fix their relationship when she was practicing on the tennis courts. After the Obon Festival, though, her dismay at the devolution of their relationship mutated to anger. His band was to blame for the way things had become, she'd thought at the time. After all, while her relationship with Yamato had rapidly deteriorated, the TEEN-AGE WOLVES' popularity had never been higher.

Their label had done its part to publicize them, making them certifiable celebrities in some districts of Tokyo. It was a development that she disliked intensely. Because of that newfound fame, Sora was frequently shunted to the side on those now rare occasions that she was out in public with her boyfriend. If he happened to come across fans of the band or other musicians in the indie rock scene, he stopped to indulge them. Sora had no choice but to stand mutely at Yamato's side. She festered in her frustration that he could smile and laugh so easily with other people and yet ignore her so coolly.

While Sora's anger was silently growing, Yamato was waiting for himself to finally be satisfied with the distance he had created between them. He was waiting to reach that point where he could stop and say that enough was enough: that he needn't push her away any further. But the further he pushed, the more he realized that the distance created wasn't enough.

Sooner or later, a breaking point would have to be reached. And when it did, their relationship would be over.

Yamato hadn't even known for sure if breaking up with Sora was what he truly wanted when he first began to close himself off. But by autumn of that year, the qualities that he used to admire in Sora one by one became irritations to him. They grew to be explicit flaws in her personality. It became more difficult to be alone with her, especially once she took to questioning him on his whereabouts and making disparaging remarks about his choice in friends. So it was unsurprising that making excuses if Sora wanted to spend time with him had become a habit.

Not that those moments were frequent anymore: he knew that Sora tired of his indifference and apathy – that she was growing more and more furious at him by the day.

During a long, grueling day of band practice in October, Sora had called Yamato just as he signaled for a break in the studio. "We need to talk," she had said in a hard, almost metallic voice when he picked up.

At her words, Yamato had felt a thrill of foreboding. Even those with no relationship experience of any kind knew the meaning of those four words. "What about?" he had responded flatly, annoyed that Sora had resorted to a relationship cliché. He ignored the eyes of his band members on him.

"Everything. Us." Sora paused. "My mom is visiting a friend tonight, so come here after your practice."

Afterwards, Yamato had reluctantly gotten on his motorcycle and traveled the old path to Sora's apartment. He wondered what aspect of their failing relationship Sora was going to complain about now.

When Sora opened the door, he could see at once from the determined look on her face that there were only two ways that the night would end. There was a chance that she would somehow manage to draw the truth out of him and then end things with him for treating her so abysmally… or she would anger him so much that he initiated the break up himself.

Because there was no question of it anymore: if he went into her apartment, there would be no turning back for them. Their dissolution was inevitable.

He stepped into the apartment.

"The living room," she directed tersely, closing the door behind him.

He went in, setting his helmet on the low coffee table. He remained standing, though; he was too strung up to sit still. "So what did you call me over for?" he asked warily as Sora stopped to stand a distance from him.

"Isn't it obvious?" She gave him a hard look. There was no frailty, no vulnerability in her at this moment. She had invited him over with the intention of starting a fight, and Yamato felt himself tense against her. It angered him, really, that she was forcing his hand. And Yamato wasn't one to take kindly to being cornered.

He would make things difficult, he decided cruelly. If she was going to pick a fight, then he would make it hard on her. He would make her regret it.

He regarded her with the indifference and slightest touch of derision he knew she so hated. "Not really," Yamato responded coolly. "I've had a long day, Sora. I don't have the time or energy to figure out your convoluted words. Just say what you want to say."

"Fine." Sora frowned at his response, her brow furrowing. "I… Yamato, you can't say that you haven't noticed that our relationship isn't the same anymore. Things are different between us… different in a bad way," she began lowly.

Sora's voice lacked the accusation that he expected, and so he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. He didn't respond.

"I'll take your silence as a 'yes', then." Ironically, while Yamato had relaxed his position, Sora's body seemed to have tensed. His silence had unnerved her: she struggled to begin. "I want to fix us, Yamato. I don't know where we started to go wrong, but I want to fix what's happened to us. I want us to be honest with each other, like we used to be." She shook her head. "I hate not knowing how you really feel, not knowing what you're really thinking. I hate that we barely see each other these days. And when we _do_ spend time together, you act as if you'd rather be somewhere else, with your... other... friends."

Yamato sent her a black look at the distasteful way that she said 'other'. He straightened, and they measured each other up in silence. He spoke lowly, in a deceptively even tone, "You've made your opinion on my choice of friends clear before. But I'm allowed to have a life outside of you and the Digital World – "

Sora bristled. "I never said that you weren't allowed to be friends with them, Yamato," she corrected angrily. "But I _do_ think it's unfair that you're suddenly spending more time with them instead of with me and the rest of our friends."

"And is this a complaint from all the Chosen, or did you tack them on there to make yourself seem less needy?" Sora flushed at his words, and Yamato knew that he had hit the mark. His own fists tightened. "That's what I thought."

"I'm not being needy," Sora quickly backtracked, frustrated at herself for allowing the conversation to take this turn. "I never – I don't mind that you spend time with other people – "

"You're just objecting to the _kind_ of people I hang out with, then?" Yamato's eyes hardened. "So in addition to being needy, you're turning into a control freak. Well done, Sora. This is more than I expected from you."

"Yamato!" she protested. Her eyes felt wet underneath the lids, hurt at the vitriol of his words, the sharp precision of each implied insult. But she forced the tears to stay at bay, blinking hard. "Just – just let me explain."

"Fine." Yamato crossed his arms as he seethed, temper barely under control. "Explain."

"You and I both know that I've never liked your other friends at school much," Sora said in a rush. "But I never protested before because you fit in with them and I could see that you were happy to hang out with them – that you enjoyed the fact that they're so different to everyone else. And I get it. I like to hang out with people who aren't carbon copies of the other Chosen too. Even though your friends drink a lot and do drugs and break rules left and right, they treated you well, and that was good enough for me."

"Get to the point, Sora."

"I just feel like you've abandoned me for them." Sora's chest hitched at her admittance, but she couldn't stop herself from saying everything that she'd been holding inside for so long. "We used to talk all the time, Yamato, about anything, everything. But ever the band got signed, you've been shutting me out. And it _hurts_. I'm not going to lie.

"I thought that I could be there for you. I thought that maybe if I was persistent enough, you would see that I _meant_ it when I said that I would always be there for you. So even though you started pushing me away, I figured that maybe you needed more time to sort things out in your head before we could talk like we used to.

"When school started again though…" She shook her head. "I thought that you would treat your friends the same way. That you would pull away from them, maybe even the WOLVES too. I thought that relationship with them would change, like ours did." She laughed harshly. "I tried so hard not to begrudge you for having other people to confide in, especially since you clearly didn't want to talk to me about whatever was bothering you. But no matter how hard I try, I can't stop myself from feeling jealous of them. I can't stop myself from getting angry when I see you choose them over me."

"No one's choosing anyone, Sora." He covered his eyes with his hand.

"So I'm just imagining the fact that you haven't eaten a single meal with me, Taichi, and Koushiro since school started again?"

"I have band practice at lunch."

"Every _day_?"

"It's not my fault that you guys decide to have lunch on days when I already have plans."

Sora fumed and clenched her fists. "How about the fact that you've stopped coming over to my apartment? Or haven't invited me over to your apartment since last year?"

He began to pace like a caged animal. "I've been busy, Sora. It's not like I have all this time on my hands to hang out whenever you want. What do you want me to do about it? Should I quit the band? Should I stop being a Chosen? Should I drop out of cram school? " His voice had gotten lower, but his voice remained crisp and stinging. "What will satisfy you? What do I have to give up in order to be with you in a way that you want?"

"I don't want you to have to give up anything to be with me!" Sora bit her lip, hurt that Yamato would suggest such a thing. "I just think it's unfair that you refuse to see me anymore outside of school. And when we do spend time with each other outside… we're always around other people. Around them, you act as if things are okay with us, but I'm tired of having to act with you."

Yamato shook his head. "I can't believe what you're saying. Seriously, Sora? Can you hear yourself?"

"Don't shake me off like I'm talking nonsense," Sora shot back angrily. "If it's not an act, then tell me why, if we're on a date, you always end up calling your friends and seeing if we can join them instead of hanging out with just the two of us. Or if that falls through, why you end up asking me if I would be fine with watching the band practice instead of going out to eat dinner." Sora shook her own head. "And…"

"What now?" He spread his hands, exasperated. "Go on, Sora. Don't do me favors – don't hold back any punches."

"You used to make time for me. I used to _matter_ to you." Her face twisted in pain. "But now, I hardly ever see you. When I call, you're always busy. It's like the band and the guys are suddenly the only things that your life revolves around. Do you know how much that's been hurting me?" Sora drew a quick breath. "I don't know what my place is in your life anymore, Yamato. I can't keep acting like things are still okay. I can't keep up this façade. I can't hide my feelings like you can."

His eyes became shadowed, his expression fading into something inscrutable. "Sora – "

"People are starting to catch on, you know. All of those fans of yours? They've pieced it together. They can tell that something's happening with us – that something's wrong."

"They always read too much into things," he muttered dismissively.

"And sometimes, they hit things right on the mark." Sora added bitterly, "It doesn't exactly help that you let them throw themselves at you and dominate your attention, either."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. " You are blowing this way out of proportion."

"Stop making it out as if this is my fault!" she cried, her anger flaring abruptly. His even words were an unbearable insult, belittling the way she felt. She was so angry that he could remain so distant and cold despite everything she was saying. Suddenly, she didn't care what she said any more, so long as she could break past his mask of callousness and get to the truth, no matter how ugly it ended up being.

She crossed the living room floor in long, quick strides so that she stood directly in front of him. She jabbed her finger into his chest – watched as he took a step back through livid eyes. "God, Yamato, why do you want to keep denying that there's a problem in our relationship when something's obviously wrong? How am I supposed to trust you anymore when all you ever do is brush me aside? How can I trust you when you don't talk to me and tell me why you're acting this way?"

She felt a vindictive pleasure when his eyes narrowed, the irritation that he must have been feeling the entire time shattering his indifferent veneer. "I don't have to report to you about everything that's going on in my life. I'm entitled to my privacy, to having my own life outside of you!" Yamato said the words hotly, his face going white.

"But you can't just keep me in the dark either!" Sora all but yelled at him in the heat of the moment. "You obviously don't have any worries about talking to your band mates or any of your other friends at school about the things going on in your life – why am I any different! Damn it, Ishida, we've been together for nearly two years now. You're my _boyfriend_! Is it so wrong that I expect my boyfriend to – "

It was as if her words were a trigger: Yamato's face was abruptly enraged as he looked down at her. "Let me make this clear for you, Takenouchi," he hissed. Momentarily frightened, Sora took a stumbled step back. "If you want to be with me, then _be_ with me. But don't you dare think for a moment that you own me, because I do _not _belong to you."

She recoiled as if he had slapped her. But inwardly, she almost laughed at the thought. What did Ishida Yamato need with physical violence when he could hurt her so acutely with just his words?

For a several long seconds, they merely stared at each other, their labored breaths filling the room. Sora tried to speak – to explain herself – but she was so stunned by his words that she couldn't form a response. She swallowed with great difficulty and finally whispered, "I just want to be able to trust you again." Her throat ached to close on her, but she forced herself to continue, "But I can't. Not the way I used to."

"If you can't trust me, then there's no point in us being together anymore," Yamato said coldly, turning away as if unable to even look at her face any longer.

Sora lost her breath at his hard voice. She stared at his face as if seeing him for the first time – because now she knew that this wasn't the Yamato that she loved. This truly _was_ a stranger. She didn't know him at all.

It was only that realization that let her speak again. "Fine, then. Get out." She pointed her finger toward the door out of her apartment. She swallowed, and forced her voice to be louder, stronger. "Get out, Ishida. I don't want to see your face again – ever."

He didn't waste any words with her – didn't waste any more time in the apartment than he had to. Without looking at her, Yamato grabbed his motorcycle helmet from the table before he strode past her.

Sora stood, frozen in place. She didn't turn to watch him go. Instead, she waited – waited for the apartment door to slam close, the sheer force of it vibrating through the walls. It was only then that she allowed herself to close her eyes – and wonder how something that had felt so right at the time could turn out to be so wrong.

* * *

_Present day – Shibuya:_

Being a taxi driver is by no means an easy life. The hours are long and the breaks rare, if you're of a lucky sort. But Ryota enjoyed his work, no matter how tiring it was. In his days of driving, he'd been able to hear many stories and meet many people. Even though his time with his passengers invariably only spanned the couple of blocks in between departure and destination, he felt a protectiveness and duty to each of them for as long as they were in his charge.

There was that foreign saying, wasn't there? To 'walk a mile in someone's shoes?' Truth be told, Ryota didn't do a very much walking when he was working, but he_ had _driven plenty of people around Tokyo in his taxi cab. That had to be as close as one could get to the saying in modern days, in his opinion.

On this particular night, Ryota had been making rounds back and forth in the Shibuya district. There was a new club that had just opened, and as one would expect, he had essentially spent most of his night shuttling youngun's to and from the spot. It was on nights like these when Ryota drove as if on autopilot – not because he knew the route particularly well, but because his passengers were alternately either too excited or inebriated to talk to him. He didn't take any offense from it though; he well remembered the rambunctious days of his own youth, and seeing his passengers having a good time made him smile fondly at the memories.

So he drove silently, his mind wandering elsewhere while his body reflexes handled the routine of his work. He was so deep in thought that he had already driven a distance away from the Shibuya distance before he realized that the cab was completely silent for the first time that night.

Startled, he looked into his rearview mirror to check the back seat. He _had_ picked up a customer, hadn't he, who wanted to go to Odake? He nodded to himself with relief when he saw that there was indeed a teenage boy sitting in back by himself.

But there was something about the boy that made Ryota do a double take – a strange quality that had him glancing back to the mirror again in curiosity. It wasn't because the boy's foreign coloring was at odds with his (as Ryota recalled) flawless Japanese. Many foreigners came to Japan for education these days, and so the combination really wasn't as strange as it used to be. No, it was something else, something not so easily apparent.

After a moment of musing, he came to the conclusion that it was the air around the boy's presence that had redrawn Ryota's attention. Although the boy's facial features suggested that he was still young, probably seventeen or maybe eighteen years old, there was something about his posture that belied the certain weariness of an older man. The boy-man sat with his head bowed, almost as if he were contemplating the strangeness of his own hands as they rested on his lap. He seemed sorrowful, and while Ryota respectfully cut his eyes away, he wondered what the teenager's story was.

In actuality, Yamato's eyes were sightless though his gaze was to the floor. He took in nothing of his surroundings beyond subconsciously noting now and then how slowly the traffic was moving. His mind was elsewhere… drifting.

He kept coming back to the abrupt phone call that he'd taken from Taichi back at the club, only ten minutes before. It was strange how a single phone call could change his perception of a day's events so drastically.

Unbidden, Taichi's words, sharp and accusatory, came back again and again to echo in Yamato's mind:

_"You're lucky. You're lucky, because unlike the rest of us, you didn't have to look at the expression on her face when you just abandoned her for them. But the rest of us had to watch her practically fall apart - all because of _you_."_

Yamato squeezed his eyes shut at the seething rage of Taichi's last words. He forced the sound out of his mind and turned instead to tracing his memories back to lunch time. He attempted to remember how he had acted once the rest of the TEEN-AGE WOLVES had arrived, how he had left the rest of his friends to join them. To his – disappointment? bewilderment? frustration? – he failed to recall exactly his manner of leaving.

All he could remember from lunch was irritating Taichi, talking to Sora for a bit, seeing the WOLVES arrive, and then hurrying to corral them to the music rooms. He honestly had no recollection of how he had said goodbye to his friends when he left. At the time, his thoughts had all been marshaled in that moment into hiding the WOLVES before the secret of their Friday performance could be leaked.

And somehow, his actions had been misconstrued as an act of abandonment, of all things.

Honestly, was it so impossible for things to just stay _simple_? The past week at camp had been so good. He and Sora had made a concerted effort to be friends to each other, friends in the way that they used to be, and they'd made a surprising amount of progress in that amount of time. But all of that hard-fought progress: gone, undone in the space of a few short seconds. In the time that it took for him to walk away from his friends and toward his band, a week's worth of relearning the messy terrain of their friendship had been wasted and drama had invaded their lives once more.

Yamato's frustration at his inability to understand how he had managed to upset Sora and infuriate Taichi flared then. For a selfish moment, he fell into disbelief and indignation - anger, even. If it weren't for the fact that he was in a public taxicab, he would have stomped his foot on the floor. Instead, he settled for clenching his fists.

How was it fair that this was happening to him? Why was he being punished for such a small, inconsequential action as not saying _goodbye_ properly enough? He felt angry at his band mates for forcing this situation onto him because of their publicity stunt; he felt angry at Sora for being so affected by his leaving; he felt angry at Taichi for having the nerve to accuse Yamato of being callous when all he did was try to be the responsible band leader by containing his band.

Once his petulant temper had run its course, however, Yamato's outrage dissipated and left behind the sour aftertaste of regret and shame. It made him slump lower in his seat and press his palms to his forehead.

Yes, he had been dealt an unfair hand in the whole situation. Still, he had an equal share in responsibility for what had happened too. He was not entirely faultless. If he had been firmer with the WOLVES and had better explained to them the necessity for keeping a low-profile, then Yutaka and Akira wouldn't have behaved so recklessly. They would have hopefully curbed their insatiable desire for attention and actually listened to Yamato's instructions for maintaining their secrecy at camp rather than acting out.

His anger at Sora was likewise unjustified. After all, he had known for a long time that Sora wasn't on best terms with the WOLVES: she got along well enough with Takahashi, but it took a really good day for her to find Akira or Yutaka tolerable. It had been one of the key things that had stressed their relationship, in the end, and he remembered with more clarity than he wanted just how much she had resented it when he allowed his band to come between them.

And Taichi… well, Taichi was just as aware as Yamato that there was no love lost between Sora and the WOLVES. The only difference between the two of them was that Taichi had been determined to protect Sora to the last, wary of anything that might hurt her, while Yamato had disregarded Sora's relationship with his band completely as irrelevant.

To Yamato's chagrin, he remembered how stubbornly he had fought with Taichi earlier that morning over the WOLVES' coming to camp. Taichi had known that the WOLVES would cause a disturbance, despite Yamato's belief to the contrary, and he had been infuriated by Yamato's refusal to back down. But Yamato had - naively, he now knew – assumed that the distance of time since their break-up would have given Sora an indifference to the WOLVES. After he and Sora had agreed to give their friendship another chance following the incident with his fans, Yamato thought that her willingness to accept his fans would extend to his band as well.

Obviously, his reasoning had backfired on him. Now, it was his mess to clean up.

For someone who prided himself on being able to predict and gauge others' emotions, Yamato was ashamed of himself for being unable to protect one of the few people he really cared about in his life. And not only had he failed to protect her - _he_ had been the one to inflict the damage! The regret he felt at that was a regret of the acutest kind, and Yamato was filled with sharp self-loathing. His hands fisted with tension once again, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

The irony of it all rendered Yamato speechless, catching him somewhere between the desires to cry and laugh. He'd always secretly harbored the opinion (a remnant of those well-oiled words that Jureimon had so carefully planted in his mind all those years ago) that despite the fact that they were best friends, Taichi was Yamato's worst enemy.

But really, Jureimon had gotten it all wrong. Yamato was his own worst enemy. Because no one – not Gabumon, not Takeru, not Sora, not even Taichi – knew how to hurt Yamato half as well as he knew how to hurt himself. Yamato had deftly sabotaged himself once again by unthinkingly hurting Sora, hadn't he? And while he was honest with himself, he had been the one to cause and accelerate the deterioration of their relationship last year as well.

The night they ended, Yamato had gone to her apartment intending to give the fight that Sora had so desperately wanted – and not only to fight, but to _win_. That had been his purpose. He had wanted to shake her, to make her see the extent that their relationship had unraveled because of her. He wanted her to feel every inch of frustration that he had forced himself to stifle, for the sake of keeping himself from doing something he regretted.

The irony of it was, of course, that he regretted everything that he'd done in those months.

Admitting the truth, even though it was only to himself, made Yamato sick to his stomach. His stomach churned as if some illusionary bile had somehow managed to rise up against the back of his throat to burn him.

It was only after everything between them had dissolved that Yamato realized – too late – how wrong he had been about her. In a time in his life when so many things had been changing in chaotic yet exhilarating ways, the fact that Sora had remained an unchanging fixture by his side led him to dismiss her at the time as merely a poor facsimile of her true self. The Sora he had fallen in love with cared for others unrestrainedly and carried herself with confidence; high school had transformed her into a girl who was more reserved and more uncertain of herself, a girl who craved acceptance where she once commanded respect. And rather than recognize that as a sign of how much she needed him, Yamato had been bewildered and annoyed by Sora's weakness. He had invented excuses to escape her neediness, secretly resentful that Sora had allowed herself to fall so far.

The memory of how he had treated Sora in those last months clung to him like a pestilence. He had been unfair: he had been intolerably cruel. Where he should have stood by her side and protected her, he instead deserted her.

Just as he had done at lunch.

Yamato sighed heavily and closed his eyes, rubbing at his temples. He had promised Taichi that he would talk to Sora and attempt to get through to her – that he would apologize for the way that he had acted.

Now, though, after forcing himself to remember the full extent of all the ways he had hurt and abused Sora, Yamato wasn't so sure he deserved to be forgiven.

* * *

_Camp Odake:_

There are days when the time passes by quickly, slipping through fingers as easily as water. Events blend together and any recollection of chronology fades, leaving only a blurry impression behind. More often than not, one day is no different from the next, and so no lasting memory is made.

Then there are other days: days that feel as though they span years. The time inches by, one minute after another, and every event is heightened and clear. They are the kind of day that stay emblazoned in one's memory forever.

Sora had an unpleasant feeling that today would be one of those days that would haunt her mind in the weeks to come – probably even longer.

Sitting back on her heels in the hall, she gazed at the wall before her with only half her usual attention. Events from the day flickered past her consciousness, interrupting her focus.

She imagined how the sunlight would filter through the tree leaves before her, _Getting ready in the morning amidst giggles as Kiku told the girls of how Kohei had finally kissed her the night before. _

She looked over her palette for a shade of green that carried just enough of a blue undertone, _Using Koushiro's laptop with Taichi to chat with Mimi online in a failed attempt to beg her to come and visit. _

Using her brush to swirl some dark brown into her chosen shade of green, _Talking with Yamato about her art class, a smile on his face as he watched and listened._

Sora shook her head. Taking a breath, she began applying it to the shadows of the tree. But the recollections continued to flicker –

_Yamato warmly greeting the WOLVES when he joined their side at the door. Smiling uneasily when Linda and Yuu asked her if she was feeling sick. Taichi's bewildered sympathy after telling him that she still had feelings for Yamato. Not seeing Yamato at dinner._

She couldn't help her falling shoulders.

This, _this_ was the flaw of painting for her, more than anything else. Painting demanded from an artist not just technical skill and imagination but _emotion_, pure and beautiful and raw. The only way to evoke feeling in a viewer is to first conjure those emotions within oneself; in that sense, the painting itself is a visual manifestation of one's emotions. Anything less than sheer feeling falls flat. And as a result, the artist - any artist, really – is forced to constantly draw upon fantasies and nightmares in order to achieve the desired result.

The act of painting didn't help Sora to forget and move past her memories; rather, it constantly made her dwell on them. She relived them in exquisite, harsh detail, so much so that when she looked at the result of her work on the wall, she could recall which memories had inspired them.

The rich, earthy brown of the tree bark: Taichi's hair fringed with sunlight as he chased a soccer ball. The soaring blue of the sky: Yamato's eyes when he smiled with true happiness.

The softness of the clouds: the gentle touch of Yamato's fingers just barely touching hers in the grass as he leant forward to kiss her.

Sora stopped, her green-laden brush inches away from the wall. _Stop being silly_, she told herself with a fierce shake of her head – as if it could push the memory away.

Determinedly, she pressed the brush to the wall and dragged it, albeit more roughly than necessary. But she continued to jab the wall with more paint when she decided that she rather liked the resulting texture. In a passing thought, Sora wondered whether or not the other artists would be able to discern the emotional turbulence she was feeling from her very brushstrokes.

And here was one of her favorite parts about painting: it allowed her to vent her frustrations. Granted, it wasn't quite as satisfying as whacking a tennis ball or kicking a soccer ball, but it served its purpose. It also had the added benefit of making her paint more quickly.

But even as she painted, Sora felt overcome with loneliness. She was struck by how alienated she was from the other artists, who laughed and painted in equal measure around her, while she stood alone and defeated. Maybe that was the reason why it was so easy for Sora to become lost in thought when she painted: she had no one to talk to when she worked. With Linda and Yuu busy elsewhere with their fashion class, Sora only truly felt comfortable with Paul among the artists. Since he was often busy with his vast mountains or assisting other artists, though, they rarely had a chance to speak with each other.

She took a breath and tried to ignore the depressing feelings, leaning forward to begin applying paint instead. But she knew it was a futile attempt: it wasn't long before her mind began to wander once more.

Her talk with Taichi that afternoon had only comforted her momentarily. After they had parted ways at dinner, Sora found herself grappling with those unpleasant feelings of shame and hopelessness. Granted, her conversation with Taichi, in addition to the space of a few hours, gave her a small measure of distance from what had happened at lunch. It allowed her to reflect on the moment of Yamato's leaving with a calmer eye. With it, she was able to see things that hadn't occurred to her at the moment – when she was too caught up her emotions from being blindsided.

Though it had hurt when he hurriedly left without a second glance, it wasn't as though he had left with the intent to betray her in his eyes. That was thing, with Yamato. When he was angry at you and wanted to hurt you, he did it while looking unflinchingly back into your eyes. He didn't engage in underhanded tactics or sly maneuvers – not because the thought would never occur to him but because behaving in such a way would be distasteful to him. Perhaps Yamato hadn't known how much his actions had hurt her when he left.

The thought made Sora lose the edge of bitterness she felt from his abandonment. The more she thought about it, the more certain she felt that Yamato had not hurt her on purpose.

Although there was some relief from the conclusion, the realization brought with it a fresh pain of its own. She had truly become someone whose well-being Yamato no longer deemed important enough to consider anymore.

It shouldn't have been such a surprise to her. After all, Sora wasn't his girlfriend anymore… just a friend. Why would he need to consider her feelings if they were no longer together? When they broke up, any right she had to be upset by his negligence – even for something as painful as his spending time with his band members – had been forfeited.

In that context, the betrayal she felt at his leaving was no longer a justified reason for her to be upset with Yamato over. Instead, it became something to be ashamed of.

It was nothing more than the jealousy of an ex-girlfriend.

_Ex-girlfriend._

The label was a cold, harsh slap to Sora's face – one that still stung, even though she had carried it on her forehead for the past year.

Once she allowed the feeling of insignificance to take root in her thoughts, there was no going back. She was helpless against those dark fears that crept over her and made her feel unsightly in her own skin. Each time she tried to think of other things, her thoughts rebelled: they would turn into older, even more painful recollections – the ones she was powerless to ignore even if she tried.

It was a kind of torture, to dwell on the ways with which Yamato had disappointed her and caused her pain. Yet she had no choice but to be swept away by those memories that never failed to leave her feel smaller than she was. And when she reemerged from those memories, Sora felt as battered from the experience as the first time that she had lived through it.

Recovering from their break-up had taken her a long time. And really, if she were being honest with herself, Sora knew that she was still in the process of recovering. She went back and forth daily between being sure of herself around Yamato and feeling uncertain about where she stood. It made her wonder if she should have given in to Piyomon and Taichi so easily when they first persuaded her to make up with Yamato. She wondered if, given more time, maybe she would have been able to be around Yamato without being so easily disturbed by his every action.

A part of her suspected that a greater amount of time would have done nothing to change the way Yamato affected her. Even if years had passed before they talked to each other once more, Sora had a gut feeling that any strength and confidence she had gained within herself would have evaporated once she met his eyes. Because he would always have the knowledge of how she had been in those last months in his memory: he would always know that, once, he had brought Takenouchi Sora, Chosen Child of Love, to her knees with nothing more than his silence.

So despite the progress she had made since their break up, the truth of Sora's weaknesses shamed her. Because, really, wasn't it a testament to how pathetic she had become? She had held on to her relationship with Yamato with everything that she had, even when he had made it clear that he was searching for a way out. She had been hopelessly terrified of the idea of a future without him, certain that she would never make it. All of her former strength, her former independence: gone, gone to the one person who was determined to never lean on anyone and barely tolerated anyone leaning on him. For a brief moment, she resented the old Yamato – the one that she used to know so well. It would have been so much easier for her to let him go if he hadn't coaxed his way into her heart so completely when they fell in love.

But when the moment passed, Sora took a deep breath and released it, forcing herself to calm. She fought for equilibrium. If there was anything at all that she had truly learned about herself today, it was that her limit had been reached. She was exhausted. She couldn't keep allowing herself to be put in such vulnerable situations. All her raised hopes had done for her was set her up for more heartbreak. And there was only so much she could take.

_No more_, Sora thought to herself, another deep breath filling her lungs and calming her heart. _No more_.

She had made this kind of promise to herself before, but there had always been something more behind her decision to remove herself from her messy emotions. When she and Yamato had broken up all those months ago, she had sworn to herself that she would ignore him and refuse to let him hurt her further.

But that decision had been made at the time out of a desire for revenge – to make him hurt with her absence with as much as he had hurt her with his. She had wanted him to see what it was like to be so coldly ignored. And even later, at camp, when she had stopped talking to Yamato after their run-in with his fans: she had given him the cold shoulder because she wanted to punish him for treating her so cruelly.

How could she really expect her friendship with Yamato to ever recover if she kept falling back on passive-aggressiveness to satisfy her desires to get even? How could she expect Yamato respect her as he once did when Sora resorted to childish ways of getting him to apologize?

Sora understood better now, for some reason, that their cycle of hurt and pain was just as much her fault as it was his. Despite the fact that she was still attracted to him – that she still wanted to be with him – she couldn't trust him not to hurt her again. So she found ways to test him by pushing him further and further away: attempting to see when he would finally give up on her and leave her, the way she expected him to.

While Yamato was the one who pushed them to the brink, it was Sora who had never truly forgiven him. She kept them on the precipice.

The past year had been so hard. For much of that time, she had struggled day by day to think of him less, to move on – to no avail. From the day that they had broken up to the day that they had begun to speak to each other as friends once more, Yamato had been a constant presence in the back of her mind. Her awareness of him had never dulled, and it was rare for her to ever get through the passage of a few hours without a single thought about him.

She hated him, then. She hated that he inhabited so much of her head and her heart. She hated that he wouldn't let her move on.

But… had she ever honestly tried to get over Yamato? Did she do everything that she could to leave him behind?

_"I can't stop myself. Even though I know I can't be with him, I can't stop myself from caring about him, from wanting to be with him again,"_ she had told Taichi. And that was the truth, wasn't it? Those feelings for Yamato had lingered on inside of her, despite the abuse and neglect that he had dealt her. And though she outwardly told herself and everyone else that she was going to get over him, deep down, she fought against her own convictions. She held on desperately to the hope that one day, Yamato would apologize for all that had passed between them, and they would reunite once more.

But Taichi's words came back to echo in her mind: _"You shouldn't have to waste your time, waiting for him to become worthy of you again. He's become a different person, and maybe that old Yamato will never come back."_

She had fought against Taichi's words. She had tried to hold onto the illusion that one day, her suffering and patience would be rewarded with Yamato's presence at her side once more.

But he was right. The Yamato she had loved had changed beyond recognition. Oh, there were parts of him that were still the same, parts that she still loved: he was a respectful, strong, independent, _good_ person, who gave everything he had to his passions, whether it was music or protection of the Digital World. But the other, newer parts of him that she had never reconciled with – primarily his emotional remoteness – had become too much a part of him to be ignored. He _was_ a different person, and she couldn't wait for a stranger she never had to return to her anymore.

With the strange feeling of revelation rippling up her back, Sora understood that she had to banish that secret hope within her. She and Yamato were not some sort of inevitability but two separate people, moving toward different places in life. Where they had once been so similar, disparities now fractured them. They simply weren't meant to be.

For the briefest moment, Sora felt overcome by the sensation of grief – gripped by the instinct to simply weep. Her heart ached, and her eyes even filled. And though at first she was bewildered by her reactions, she later understood: she was grieving not for herself, but for the Ishida Yamato who used to love and cherish her. The Ishida Yamato who would never return for her.

When the moment passed, though, Sora's vision cleared and her breath came a little easier. Her heart settled. And for the first time in far too long, she felt like she had the measure of herself. She felt like she was in control of herself once more.

Remembering the paint brush in her hand, Sora's fingers tightened again – not with despair, but with determination. The old Yamato might have passed on, but that didn't mean that Takenouchi Sora had to fade away, too. After all, she was a Chosen Child: she wasn't someone to be so easily left behind.

Sora nodded to herself firmly and leaned forward, pressing her brush against the mural wall. She would get over Ishida Yamato yet.

* * *

When the taxi finally arrived at the Camp Odake gates, Yamato respectfully thanked the driver for his time and paid his fare. He then snuck into the camp (mentally thanking the Digital World for teaching him how to exploit the darkest shadows to avoid being seen), easily bypassing the few teachers 'patrolling' the grounds. When he reached the main camp grounds, he relaxed and walked casually. With the artists still up and working in the dining hall, any teacher who saw him would simply assume him to be one of them.

Even now, some of the artists had already begun to leave the dining hall. It wasn't a surprise, given the late hour. Yamato nodded at a few of the students who passed by him and gave him curious looks, steadily continuing his way up the stairs and to the main entrance of the hall. He was relieved to see that Sora was still inside: it was too easy to pick out her auburn hair from the rest of the students.

Rather than striding up to her directly, Yamato stood and waited for her at the entrance. Mentally, he rehearsed the prepared bits of his apology that he'd come up with in the taxi. He had to get this right: there was no room for errors. He had to find a way to fix his mistake and repair his friendship with Sora before it fractured irreparably in his hands.

When Sora turned and saw him standing there, he gave what he hoped was a warm, friendly smile. "Hi," he said, his eyes meeting hers when she approached him. "All done?"

"Yamato?" Sora's tone was confused and her gaze faintly suspicious. When she stopped in front of him, she frowned. "What are you doing here?"

Yamato was surprised despite himself at her reaction. He didn't know exactly what he had expected to see, but when Taichi told Yamato that Sora was upset and putting herself into seclusion from the rest of their friends, he had been pictured her being in a more fragile state. Perhaps even tearful and vulnerable. That was what he had come to expect from her.

But somehow, she seemed only wary of his appearance in the dining hall. It threw him, and all of his prepared words slipped away.

He cast his mind for a way to regain some ground between them. "I heard that you were staying up late to work and thought that I'd walk you back to your cabin when you finished… if that's okay with you," he finally settled on saying, weighing each word carefully.

The confusion on Sora's face grew into surprise. When she recovered, she quirked an eyebrow at him. "You came all the way here just to walk me to my cabin?" she repeated.

"For starters, yeah, I guess." Yamato raised his own eyebrow back at her, feigning a calmness he didn't feel. "Unless you don't want me to?"

She shifted her weight to her other foot as she finally nodded in agreement. "I guess that's all right, since you're already here." She stepped around him, moving down the stairs. "Come on, let's go then."

He caught up to her head start with long strides, and the two walked in silence as they followed some of the other artists to the cabin area. "How's the mural coming along?" Yamato ventured after a sidelong glance at Sora, unsure of how else to begin a conversation.

"It's all right." She shrugged vaguely. "It's getting there."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

They continued walking a bit further. Yamato strained his mind desperately for ideas on how to lead their conversation into what happened in the afternoon. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that it took him a while to realize that Sora had slowed her steps and stopped behind him.

He turned, confused. "Sora?"

"You don't have to beat around the bush, Yamato." Her voice was level and her gaze was evenly squared on his. "Can we just talk honestly instead of making things more complicated than they have to be?"

This time, Yamato walked toward Sora cautiously. "Sure… but what are you talking about?"

"Who told you to come and talk to me?" she asked patiently, crossing her arms over her stomach.

Inwardly, he was stunned at the accuracy of Sora's guess. Outwardly, though, his face was impassive, if a bit puzzled. "What do you mean? I didn't –"

She rolled her eyes before guessing, "It was Taichi, wasn't it? Did he tell you not to admit that it was him?"

"I – " he began to deny it before he stopped, seeing the disappointment and annoyance on Sora's face. Frustrated, he sighed. "I'm not going to answer that," he said finally. "I don't want to have to lie to you or break a promise, and if you make me answer, that's what's going to happen."

Dissatisfied as she was by his answer, Sora nonetheless nodded reluctantly. "It doesn't really matter what you say, though." She shook her head in exasperation. "This has Taichi written all over it. He wouldn't want anyone else except himself to get in trouble with me… Old habits die hard, I guess."

Privately, Yamato agreed. Only Taichi would be pig-headed enough to continually wedge himself into the thick of Yamato and Sora's problems. Their best friend had an alarming lack of self-preservation, at times. "Taichi cares about you," Yamato commented aloud. "Even if he is an idiot about it sometimes."

"I know, I know. I already talked to him all about it after lunch today."

Yamato nodded. Then he braced himself. "Listen, Sora, about what happened at lunch today –"

Sora shook her head quickly and began to walk again. "Let's just forget about it, okay?" She looked briefly up at him when he caught up with her again. "I'm sure that Taichi filled you in on all the details when you saw him. And I'm willing to bet that he threatened to kick your ass if you didn't come here to apologize. But honestly, you don't have to apologize or explain or whatever it is that you're planning on doing." She brushed her hair out of her face. "I know that I overreacted at lunch and made a big deal out of nothing. So I'm sorry if Taichi gave you a difficult time when it's really my fault that I acted like a child."

Again, Yamato was stunned by Sora's response. Her reactions were nothing like what he imagined that they would be. In the taxi ride back to Camp Odake, he had prepared himself for tears, screaming – maybe even a slap or two if she got really worked up. So it was highly disorienting for him to listen to Sora sound so _dismissive_ over everything that happened that day, especially when he contrasted her behavior to the picture of Sora that Taichi had painted for him over the phone. Not that he didn't prefer Sora's almost indifferent reaction– he was glad that this wasn't going to become an emotionally draining conversation.

Still, he had the distinct feeling that he was missing a crucial piece of the puzzle, an important step in development. It was uncomfortable for Yamato to be left behind and not know how it happened.

"I still have to apologize, though," he argued when he recovered. His fingers closed around her wrist and he tugged her gently to a stop. "I didn't think about it when it happened, but I was… well, I was really rude at lunch to ditch you and everyone else the way I did just because my band was visiting."

She pulled her wrist back, her expression unfathomable. "Yamato…"

"And I owe you an apology, more than anyone else." He kept going, undeterred. "I should have remembered how much you dislike the WOLVES. I should have thought about what it must have looked like to you. And Sora, I'm sorry."

He knew that his apology for the afternoon's spectacle wasn't enough to wipe away all of the hurt that he'd inflicted on her through the WOLVES in the past. Still, it was better than nothing, and Sora sighed. "Thank you. I… really appreciate you saying that."

"It's the least I can do for being such a jerk."

"Well, at least you know that you were. That's a start."

Although they exchanged tentative smiles, he found that it was hard to meet her eyes after that. There was just so much left unsettled between them… it created an awkward atmosphere. Compelled to do something about it, Yamato cleared his throat. "Come on, we should get going before Wakana and Kiku worry about you."

"They're probably already asleep. I'm usually the last one still awake at this time." Still, they both began to walk slowly again. A few beats of silence passed before Sora asked hesitantly, "Yamato, there was something that I wanted to ask you about – while we're being honest with each other."

Nervously, he agreed. "Sure. What is it?"

"About what happened... yesterday afternoon."

As if her words were a trigger, they both remembered what had happened the day before.

It seemed like a lifetime ago to Yamato, now. After the events of today (what with his fight with Taichi in the morning, the WOLVES arriving, their afternoon rehearsal, going out to the club, before finally coming back to camp… damn, that was all _today_?), it was hard to remember whether or not his and Sora's talk and their almost-kiss had actually happened or if it was just a figment of his imagination.

He had let his guard down in the forest. After all, he'd been alone, and what use did barriers have then? But Sora's unexpected presence in the forest had caught him unawares, and that was opening enough for her to keep those barriers down between them. And Yamato had forgotten to keep his distance; he had even forgotten those little reminders that kept him from acting impulsively when he was around her.

Instead, he had acted purely by instinct. He thought nothing of what his actions would do to them both if he had gone through with it: if he gone through with kissing her. In that moment, all he wanted was to lean forward and press his lips to hers –

all he wanted was to pretend once again –

but her phone rang and the moment was broken.

While he had been hit with disappointment that they had been interrupted at the time, once the heady feeling of being drawn to each other had faded, he knew that they both were glad that they had been stopped. Their confused mess of a friendship-relationship was difficult enough as it was; throwing a kiss into the mix would have only served to complicate things further.

He was also fairly certain that Taichi would have punched him if the brunet ever found out about it.

Yamato knew that she was waiting for him to answer her unspoken question. Though he wanted badly to evade it, knowing that what he had to say would only set things back for them, he had agreed to honesty with her. She deserved to hear his truth, even if it was weak and pathetic. "I shouldn't have… done that."

He heard her breath catch, and the guilt he already felt intensified. Still, her voice was calm. Contrite, even. "I shouldn't have gone after you yesterday. If I didn't, maybe I wouldn't have had my hopes raised for us to get back together… maybe it would have made today hurt less."

Her words were a blow to his stomach. He stopped to stare at her profile, stunned. "You – you wanted us to get back together?"

Though they were close to her cabin now, Sora stopped so that they could finish their conversation. "Yeah, I did. Or at least, I thought I did." She looked up at him and searched his eyes. "But you never meant for us to get back together, did you?"

Asked point-blank, Yamato searched inward for the answer that his mind and his heart still couldn't agree on, the answer that he didn't even know for himself. Even as the rebellious, irrational portion of his heart demanded his attention, urging him to tell her the whole story, he found that his traitorous mouth refused to form the words. And he could only whisper a part of his truth. "No. I didn't."

Sora looked away, digesting his answer. "Then why did you almost kiss me yesterday?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," he whispered.

"I see."

He watched the play of emotions across her face, and he wanted so badly to reach out to her. But he fisted his hands at his side and pleaded instead, "Sora –"

"I'm not mad at you, you know," she said suddenly, as she returned her eyes to his face. "I was mad earlier, after lunch. But… I'm just so tired now, Yamato. I'm so tired of this thing –whatever this thing is – that we're doing." Her lips lifted in a rough approximation of a wry smile, though the authenticity of it was ruined by the accompanying wince. "You and I both know that what we're doing isn't a friendship, not really."

Even though he agreed, her words clawed at him all the same. His eyes tightened. "What do you want to do, then?"

"Honestly, I don't know." She pressed her hands together. "But, for now… I think we both need some time away from each other, to sort out what we really want. I'm not saying that we have to avoid each other – we really don't need a rehash of this past year. But I think it would be easier on the both of us if we didn't have to spend so much time together because of our group."

Yamato let out a long breath, knowing the truth in her words. "You're right. Okay."

They walked the rest of the short distance to Sora's cabin quietly. When she unlocked the door and pulled it open, she turned back to look him – but both were struck by the same sadness and speechlessness and were left to stare at each other.

Even though they had only agreed to put their friendship on hold while they figured themselves out, they both knew that something else was ending between them: another chapter of Yamato-and-Sora coming to a close.

"Good night, Sora," Yamato finally said quietly, stepping back. "Sleep well."

She nodded, her eyes soft. "Good night, Yamato."

And then she closed the door.


	13. Reinforcements

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**  
Author's Notes:** I didn't plan for it to happen this way, but this chapter ended up being a transition of sorts between the emotional angst of previous chapters and the next section of the plot. So, why the updating delay? Let's just say that certain characters were demanding an introduction, and I needed some extra time to familiarize myself with their 'voices'. (Critiques on how well I succeeded regarding this point will be very much appreciated, hint hint.)

Thank you to all of the kind reviewers and silent readers of last chapter; I was blown away by the positive reception. I hope that you'll find this chapter as enjoyable to read as well.

* * *

**Under the Surface**_  
Chapter XIII: Reinforcements_

* * *

Sleep proved to be nearly impossible for Taichi that night. Just as he began to drift into unconsciousness, he would wonder if Yamato had actually done as he'd asked - if Yamato's words would be enough to give Sora peace of mind. Taichi certainly didn't have it; every time he turned over in his bed, guilt and uncertainty wrestled in his mind. Once sleep finally came from sheer exhaustion, it was the fitful kind, not at all restful.

The next morning dawned to find Taichi in a sour mood. He was only a morning person when he was fully rested. Sleep-deprived, he was a zombie with a foul temper. And not only was he sleep-deprived, he accidentally overslept until there was only fifteen minutes left before classes began. By the time Taichi managed to rush to the dining hall, he only had time to enjoy five minutes' worth of eating before the bell rang.

And the only food that left on the buffet line was _oatmeal_.

Not even one slice of bacon remained!

Luckily, Kohei had the foresight to save him a half plate of scrambled eggs and sausages. The portions were a mockery of Taichi's usual fare, but he wasn't about to picky over his friend's generosity. He wolfed as much food down as he could: the eggs and sausages, plus two bowls of oatmeal and an untouched roll from Wakana's breakfast. When the bell for class rang, Taichi filled another bowl of oatmeal to eat on the way business. As he ate, Kiku filled him on what he had missed from coming to breakfast late.

"Yamato didn't show, but Sora was in an okay mood, compared to how she was acting yesterday," Kiku informed him as soon as they were out of earshot from the rest of the people in their group and well on their way to their business class. "I mean, like, not counting yesterday at lunch, _obviously_, because she was in a really good mood then. But compared to around dinner time - but then again, she sat with the artists, so it's hard to say for sure if she was in a sad mood yesterday. But after lunch yesterday, when she left? Yeah, she was definitely in a better mood than how she was _then_."

Kohei and Taichi exchanged a glance. "Too much coffee," Kohei mouthed, wincing sympathetically.

"Did you get a chance to talk to her last night, though? When she came back to your cabin?" Taichi interrupted, vaguely aware that he was being rude for interrupting but too sleep deprived to care (though it didn't matter much anyway; Kiku took his behavior in stride). "You know, after she came back from painting."

Kiku shook her head, her long dark brown hair flicking around her face with the vehement movement. "Wakana and I tried to stay awake and wait for her, to make sure that she was okay," she admitted. "But neither one of us is good at staying up late. We were both completely knocked out by the time Sora came back." She quickly added, "But we all woke up together, and she was totally acting like usual. You would have never guessed that she was, like, all withdrawn and stuff yesterday. She _was _a little quieter, maybe, but that could have just been from not getting as much sleep as normal? She did mention that her section of the mural is behind compared to the other artists, so she probably stayed late to try and catch up, you know? "

"No mentions of Yamato or anything like that?" Taichi asked curiously, faintly suspicious. _How could Sora have not mentioned him at all…? Then again, she's not as close to Wakana and Kiku as she is to me…_

"None at all," Kiku confirmed. "She didn't talk about anything, really. She just talked a little bit about how much she managed to get done last night in her painting session, and then she asked me and Wakana about how our day was. We told her that we hung out in your cabin… which was the truth, obviously… but we told her that we just sat around and, like, talked. Don't worry! We didn't say anything about Yamato or anything that could get anyone else in trouble."

"Good." Taichi sighed in relief. He finished the last of his oatmeal and threw the disposable bowl away in one of the waste cans they passed. "I mean, I know I can trust you guys… but it's just nice to know for sure, you know?"

"Mhm, no problem."

"What about you, man?" Kohei asked once Kiku finished her 'report'. "Did you see Yamato come in last night? Did you get a chance to talk to him?"

Taichi rubbed his eyes tiredly. "To be honest, I have no idea when he even got back. I tried to stay awake - well, I did at first. But then I got really tired, so I tried to go to sleep… but for some reason, I couldn't. I just couldn't fall asleep, no matter how much I tried to relax myself."

"That bad, huh?" Kiku asked sympathetically, frowning in concern.

"Yeah, I guess." Taichi shook his head. "Anyway, I blacked out at some point. But I don't know when Yamato even got back… maybe he just snuck in really quietly? All I know that he did get back at some point because when I woke up in the middle of the night, he was in his bunk already. But I haven't had a chance to talk to him about anything yet."

Kohei nodded. "You'll get a chance later."

At that point, the trio entered the business cabin. Taichi spotted Eiji and Umeko already ready and waiting for them at the corner of the room, and Taichi hurried over. Thoughts of Yamato and Sora were pushed to the side, his immediate concern now focused on the task at hand. "Ready for another day?" he asked his chefs, managing an easy smile as he was taken away with the thrill of imminent challenge.

"Always," Eiji replied with a grin of his own, Umeko nodding at his side.

Kohei spun his chair backwards and propped his elbows against the back. "Awesome. Let's kick some ass today!"

Team Platinum laughed agreeably to that before their teachers shushed them to quiet the room down for the morning lecture.

"Yesterday, you all learned what it was like to take your business to the streets. For my culinary class, it meant learning how to pick up speed to meet demand - whether it meant less dilly-dallying or cutting corners in food production." Hoshi raised an eyebrow at some of her culinary arts students here, making some of them cower under her gaze.

Hiroyuki took over the thread of the lecture seamlessly. "For the business class, I hope you all learned something about supply and demand. I noticed that some groups upped the price of their goods when they noticed how popular the desserts were, and vice versa, to control the pace of consumption." He nodded, obviously satisfied. "That was good work. You guys have to remember that business is about constantly changing and adapting to new situations. If one model of operation doesn't work, you have to quickly evaluate and implement changes. Otherwise, you get left behind in the dust.

"Remember everyone," he then reminded them, "that we're leaving at nine-thirty this morning to go to the market to pick up ingredients for part two of the 'Street Tasting Test'. You learned something about your product yesterday, and today you get chance to fine-tune it so that on Friday, your team will operate like a well-oiled machine."

Hoshi glanced over the class, who watched the two teachers attentively. "Remember, Mr. Hiroyuki and I will be watching your operations when we go downtown for the test, and we will be taking notes on all that we see. From the food aspect, I will be grading teams based on the quality of the food. Presentation of the dessert and consistency of taste from the beginning to the end of the challenge will get positive marks. If you adjust your desserts so that they become more complex or taste better, extra credit. Teams whose food becomes shoddy in production will receive negative points and a harsh lecture from me," she told them sternly.

Taichi glanced nervously at his chefs at Ms. Hoshi's dire words, but relaxed on seeing that Eiji and Umeko were not particularly unruffled by their teacher's warning. _No point in worrying about that, _Taichi reminded himself. _You know nothing about food, so leave it up to the experts._

"My grading will be the same as on previous challenges," Hiroyuki was saying with a roguish grin when Taichi paid attention to the lecture again. "I'm not nearly as active as Ms. Hoshi when it comes to grading. My only grading criterion, like in real businesses, is the bottom line: how much net profit have you made?" The business teacher shrugged as the class snickered. "Obviously, I will patrol the teams to make sure that no one is behaving unethically - such as scamming the consumers, sabotaging other teams, and whatnot. But as long as you keep it clean, all I care about is the amount of money you've brought in at the end of the day, after reimbursement for supplies. Any questions? No? Then, get your strategy all planned out so that once we get into town, we don't waste any time."

"And remember!" Hoshi called out as the teams began to talk amongst themselves, "the results of today's challenge will determine who gets first pick of snack stalls on Friday!"

"Way to put the pressure on, eh?" Kohei muttered into Taichi's ear as Team Platinum rearranged their chairs into something more comfortable for team brainstorming. "That woman is a nightmare. I'm sure as hell glad that she's not _our_teacher."

Taichi rubbed at his forehead, hoping to banish a coming headache. "It sucks that her grading is going to affect the whole team, but what can we do? Let's just focus on what we can control," he whispered back.

Despite his own words, Taichi couldn't quite hide his trepidation about the day's challenge. Of course, seeing their team leader nervous affected everyone else on Platinum. The business and culinary halves of the group argued and nitpicked at the list of necessary ingredients, the quantity of supplies they needed, and argued over ways to cut production time without sacrificing quality. They then spent a good twenty minutes trying to figure out how to divide up the tasks when the challenge was actually underway.

"We're going to need an extra set of hands. Otherwise, there's no way that this is all going to work," Eiji pointed out bluntly. "If Umeko and I are going to be cooking and Kiku is helping us with some of the prep work, that leaves the two of you guys to both manage wrapping up the food _and _taking care of money transactions. But who's going to advertise for us? Word of mouth doesn't work with street vendors. People don't talk to strangers when they're busy going on with their day."

"Well, we don't _have_an extra set of hands. We're just going to have to find a way to make this work with what we've got." Kiku rubbed at her temples in frustration. "Don't get your hopes up that someone will leave their group to join ours. We've had a bad reputation ever since Suzu –" here, Kiku shot a dirty glare across the room at her former friend "- walked out on us last week."

Kohei nodded. "Hate you break it to you, Eiji, but no one wants to jump aboard a sinking ship."

"We're not a sinking ship," Umeko said strongly, clearly annoyed with the defeatist attitude that Kohei was projecting. "We're just floundering a little bit, that's all. We _can_make this work; we've just got to be smart and creative with it."

Kiku nodded determinedly. "I agree. Instead of, like, just complaining about our bad luck, let's figure out how we can work around our problems."

"How can we, though?" Eiji crossed his arms skeptically. "We can't magically summon a helper. We could have Kohei or Taichi go out to advertise for us, but that would slow down wrapping up the food and taking care of the money. Which would be pretty much defeat the purpose of advertising by making us unproductive anyway."

"Then how about this," Kiku snapped back, surprising everyone else into silence. "Let's just do the best we can to concentrate on some kick-ass daifuku! We can't advertise like you want, so the only thing we can do is make a great product that will get people to come to our stall from word of mouth. Maybe it won't be enough to make us lots of money, but I think we should take the gamble that having high marks from Ms. Hoshi will make up for a smaller profit margin." The normally easy-going girl glared at the male chef in defiance, who gaped back, unmoving, in shock.

Taichi coughed, not knowing what else to do. "Err... um, Kiku, are you feeling okay?" he asked hesitantly.

"I just feel so frustrated!" she groaned, glancing over at Kohei when the boy rubbed her shoulder sympathetically. "I'm so tired of hearing people say things about us behind our back _just_ because Suzu left our group. I mean, just because we didn't all get along with her doesn't mean that we're incompetent!" she complained, exasperated. "And _then_, we're ranked near the bottom of all the groups... Don't they know that there's a reason why you don't underestimate the underdogs?"

Kohei tweaked a strand of her hair affectionately. "Well, if they don't know it yet," he told her, chuckling, "they'll learn. Trust me. We'll show 'em who's boss."

"Yes, we will." Umeko's eyes glinted dangerously.

By the time Hiroyuki corralled everyone to leave, Team Platinum's confidence was restored. They were all buoyed by a new energy to prove themselves, and so when they arrived in at the food market, they worked quickly and efficiently to gather all the ingredients that they needed. That same efficiency carried them throughout the rest of the morning as they set up their food stations in the food tasting stations, assembled the food items under Umeko and Eiji's careful attention, and served the tourists and city-dwellers who purchased their daifuku. There wasn't a single moment that they were idle, and Taichi lost himself in the rush of serving customers and making sure that Team Platinum had enough ingredients to keep them going.

When time was called and Hiroyuki and Hoshi disappeared to calculate results, Team Platinum waited together with baited breath.

"We'd better not put us in the bottom again," Kohei grumbled under his breath as he cleaned up. "Our daifuku mochi was the shit, and it totally sold like no one's business."

Eiji chuckled before lowering his voice conspiratorially. "We have a decent shot, don't worry so much. Umeko and I aren't the best in our class, but we make quality desserts. We also overheard some of our classmates freaking out earlier."

Umeko shook her head. "Like poor Sakura's team. They're biting off more than they can chew, with custom hand rolls. That takes time to do right, and it's time-consuming even when you do it wrong. I'm pretty sure I saw Ms. Hoshi marking them low for those..."

"Well, fingers crossed then." Taichi crossed his fingers on both hands, the rest of Team Platinum following suit. "Here's hoping for anything _but_last place. I'll even be happy with second to last!"

They were all extremely pleased when the results came out - of the eight business teams, Team Platinum had placed fifth. It was a respectable showing for a team that had consistently placed in the bottom two for every challenge thus far in the Odake career camp. As Kiku had predicted, the net profit that they had managed was rather low compared to some of the other desserts, partially due to the fact that it was hard to convince people to buy expensive daifuku. However, the taste of their daifuku had clearly impressed Hoshi, and so their scores neatly balanced out.

And although Taichi would never admit it, he was gratified to see that his team had managed to beat Suzu's in the rankings. The look on her face, when she made eye-contact with her former team mates, could have curdled milk. Kohei immediately responded by sticking his tongue out at the girl, and Suzu huffed and turned back to her team pointedly.

Taichi shook his head at the other footballer. "I probably should have stopped you from doing that. Sticking your tongue out? Real mature, Kohei."

"Don't try to lecture me, Yagami. I know you were thinking of doing the same thing." Kohei snickered.

"... Maybe I was," Taichi admitted reluctantly. "But since I'm a team leader, I need to at least pretend to be mature."

"A mature Yagami Taichi?" Kohei gasped exaggeratedly. "Who would have thought the day would ever come? You sure you're feeling better? Maybe that lack of sleep is messing with you more than you think."

"Shut up, butt face."

It was with much higher spirits that Taichi returned to Camp Odake for lunch than when he had left. The high of doing well on a morning challenge, as well as the prospect of good food to fill his stomach, cheered him immensely. Plus, he was excited to see the rest of his friends again, too. The morning's activity had successfully distracted him, stopping him from dwelling on all that could have gone wrong during the night. His worries over Sora had faded. Now, he just wanted to relax and enjoy her company when he saw her again.

He really did hope that she would be in better spirits than she had been yesterday, though.

He was in the middle of taking a large bite out of a piece of fried chicken when he finally saw Sora making her way to their table. Taichi quickly finished chewing swallowed his food and grinned cheerfully at Sora. "Hey Sora! It's good to see you," he said happily as she chose to sit down next to him. "How are you? I'm famished. I've been busy with business stuff all morning and I barely got to eat breakfast - "

"I was surprised to see you missing this morning, that's for sure," Sora commented as she unwrapped the plastic packaging on her sandwich with care. "Koushiro and Hayate mentioned that you were sleeping in a little bit longer. Were you feeling sick this morning?"

Taichi shook his head, relieved to see that Sora was acting as normally as ever. Kiku hadn't made it up Sora's behavior just to placate him, then. "Nah, I just had a really hard time sleeping last night. I had a lot on my mind, so I couldn't get myself to relax enough to fall asleep… And then I ended up oversleeping. I feel a lot better now, don't worry," he added before Sora could say anything. "After I get some more food in me, I'll be perfect!"

"I'm glad to hear that." Sora laughed. She bit off a piece of her sandwich. "So, how did business go today? You seem much more cheerful than you do normally after your morning classes."

With Kiku's help, Taichi relayed all that had happened in the morning challenge to Sora, who listened patiently as they delivered a dramatic play-by-play. When they finished, Sora proudly congratulated them on their victory. "Did you get a chance to choose your locations for Friday yet?" she wondered. "I volunteered to give tours in the art gallery during the event, so I don't know if I'll get a chance to explore much of the other exhibitions. If you know exactly where you'll be..."

"We're supposed to pick snack stalls tomorrow in class, so as soon as we find out, I'll text the location to you," Taichi promised warmly.

She warned him, "If you forget, I won't forgive you."

"Hey, some faith in me would be nice!" he protested. "When was the last time I forgot something important?"

A strange look briefly crossed Sora's face, and for an instant, Taichi was concerned. He leaned forward, reaching for her. "Sora...?"

But a commotion on the other side of the table drew both of their attentions: the musicians had arrived to the table. Susumu was sliding into a seat next to Koushiro, and Wakana laughed at something that Kiku said. Taichi's back automatically tensed as he met Yamato's gaze, and the bassist briefly faltered at whatever expression Taichi had on his face. In the next moment, though, Yamato recollected himself and his gaze went over to Sora.

Taichi's nerves proved to be unnecessary: Yamato and Sora gave each other a nod of acknowledgment and a polite smile. And then, before Taichi could make sense of the cursory greeting, Kohei and Kiku dominated Yamato's attention as they gestured for him to sit with them while Sora casually returned to eating her meal.

And Taichi was left feeling... well, both confused and curious.

Had Yamato talked to Sora? Had they made up? If they did, their friendship was much less warm than it had been just a few days ago.

He was undying to get some answers; unfortunately, he wasn't the best at subtly extracting information. There was no way that he was going to try to bring up the topic with Sora when Yamato was right across the table and within hearing distance. So, Taichi focused on devouring his lunch, intent on finishing quickly so that he could ask his questions as soon as Yamato left for more music rehearsal. Despite his resolution, Taichi remained jittery as he ate, one knee bouncing relentlessly under the table.

He really, really hoped that Yamato didn't rat him out to Sora. He didn't _think _that Yamato would - he just wasn't usually that type of guy. Still, Taichi couldn't help it. For the moment, his concern over the preservation of his friendship with the volatile Chosen of Love overshadowed his hope that Yamato had successfully apologized to Sora for the way he had acted.

Within minutes of his arrival, Yamato began to clean up his tray of food. "You're leaving already?" Kohei asked, surprise pitching his voice loud so that Taichi could hear the other footballer over the conversations around them.

"Hanging out with my band yesterday made me fall behind in orchestra," Yamato explained as he picked up his tray and stood, "so I need all the practice time I can get."

He was answered with a disjointed chorus of farewells, and Taichi watched the blond weave through the tables and then disappear. When Taichi's attention returned to their table, brainstorming for an opening to talk to Sora, he saw that her eyes were already on him and expectant. "What?" he asked, with the odd feeling that he was in some sort of trouble.

He never knew, when Sora got that _look _in her eyes.

Sora's lips quirked into a half-smile at his defensive tone. "You haven't made up with Yamato yet, have you?"

Taichi bristled at her knowing words. "Nope," he replied brusquely.

She sighed, as if he were a disobedient child. "Oh Taichi…."

"I'll talk to him when I feel like it," he retorted. Struck by sudden inspiration, Taichi then continued in a more civil tone, "What about you? Have you made up with him yet?"

She raised an eyebrow in response. "I got the impression that you didn't want me to make up with him yesterday. Change your mind?" she challenged.

"No! Well, at first, I didn't want him to make up with you and get close to you again. I mean, I don't. But… after seeing how, uh, upset you were yesterday from what he did, I thought that maybe he'd go to you and apologize at least… so you'd feel better." He couldn't hold back a wince when he realized how much he had stumbled through his words, making her stare at him. He coughed. "Um. Did that make any sense?"

"You know, no matter how much older we grow, I get the feeling that your verbal ineptitude is going to stay the same," Sora commented, exasperated.

He frowned and leaned forward. "Hey! I can talk just fine normally. It's just a little harder to say what I'm thinking when you look at me like that…"

"Like what?"

Taichi pointed at her face helpfully. "Like _that_."

Sora rolled her eyes. "Yes, because pointing at my face is going to clear things _right _up."

"It's when you get that look in your eyes…" he tried to explain. "Like you're thinking, _Taichi, you're an idiot _and_ I'm going_ _to enjoy watching your struggle to respond_. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on answering when you look at me like that?" Taichi huffed at her subsequent laughter. "Laugh all you want, but you still haven't answered my question."

She covered her mouth apologetically. "Sorry," she said, though a few giggles escaped from her. She took a deep breath and then asked more calmly, "Remind me again, what did you want to know?"

"Whether you've made up with Yamato or not yet."

She was serious when she answered. "I did, actually, more or less." She looked at him with a clear, considering gaze. "Although I don't think you gave him much of a choice, did you?"

Now it was Taichi's turn to stare. He gaped at her wordlessly, his mind blank and confused. "How - how did you -?" he spluttered.

"Close your mouth, Taichi; a fly is bound to make its way in there if you keep that up."

"Did he tell you that I told him to go and apologize to you?" Taichi demanded, using bravado to cover up his surprise - which was rapidly being replaced by a resurgence of anger. If Yamato told her….

That would explain everything. The look on her face when he asked about forgetting things - the cool greeting she gave Yamato when he arrived in the dining hall -

"Of course not." Sora's voice was sharp and halted his musing. "Even if you two aren't playing nice right now, you're still best friends, aren't you?" She laughed again, though much less mirthfully than before. "You two are as thick as thieves. I couldn't get him to admit that you had a hand in getting him to meet with me. Even when he realized that I _knew_it was you, he wouldn't admit to anything."

"Oh." The anger disappeared as quickly as it came, only to be replaced by guilt for doubting Yamato. Taichi swallowed, not bothering to hide the guilt which grew and spread. Sora had more or less caught him at his attempt to secretly interfere (he'd known for a while that he really needed to work on his poker face, but damn, she caught him good), so there was no more point in trying to deceive her. "Then how did you know…?"

Sora shrugged simply. "We've been best friends for years. Not to mention that you're pretty predictable when it comes to the people you care about." She neatly folded up the remains of her lunch. "Yamato didn't have to say a word," she went on calmly. "When I saw him show up here last night, I had a feeling right away that you had something to do with it."

Taichi waited for her to keep talking, but Sora remained silent. Unsure of what to expect, he eyed her. "And are you… mad at me?" he asked hedgingly, when she showed no signs of wanting to continue the conversation.

"I should be. I have every right to be, don't I? Taichi, you promised to stop interfering with our business just yesterday, and already something's happened."

She frowned at him, and he ducked his head, unable to meet her eyes.

A moment later, Sora sighed. "But am I mad? No, I'm not. I'm annoyed and irritated, yeah, but... I'm just so tired of all of this that I really don't give enough of a damn to _get_ mad anymore. So count yourself lucky."

"I'm sorry, Sora. For keeping this from you."

Predictably, she heard what he failed to say. "But you're not sorry for doing it?"

Here, Taichi could raise his head once more. He took a breath. "That, I'm not sorry for. If you got the apology that you deserved from him, then it was worth it."

Snorting, Sora shook her head and stood up with her tray. "You are a brave, brave man, Yagami."

He tried for and managed a smile. "Chosen of Courage, and all that; I can't help who I am."

The smile that she reflexively returned to him could only be described as fond exasperation.

"I know."

* * *

"The last topic for today that we will discuss is the use of hormones in the endocrine system," Professor Abrams said, scrawling the words 'Hormone Regulation' across the chalkboard. He underlined it with a loud scrape of the chalk before turning around and facing the class once more. "Now, the two main types of hormone regulation are...?"

In the second row, Inoue Momoe's hand shot up. After Professor Abrams nodded, Momoe answered promptly, "Negative and positive, Professor."

Abrams nodded briskly in approval, turning back to the board to write more. Meanwhile, sitting behind her in the third row, Kido Jyou leaned forward and tapped Momoe on the shoulder. "Nicely done," he whispered to her when she turned her head slightly.

From what little he could see of her face, Jyou could tell that the corners of her lips had lifted into a slight smile. "Thanks," she murmured back.

"Negative feedback is the most common form of the hormone regulation that our body depends upon for homeostasis," Professor Abrams spoke aloud once again, tapping the words on the board with his pointer for emphasis, and Jyou returned his attention back to the lesson. "Homeostasis," he repeated, "that is, keeping our bodies chemically balanced. Extreme situations don't do our cells any favors – in fact, our cells would die if subjected to great changes in environment.

"Now, for those of you unfamiliar with hormone regulation, think of negative feedback this way." Abrams wrote 'temperature' underneath the words 'negative feedback', and Jyou dutifully copied them down. "We are in this classroom in the college in the height of summer in Tokyo. If it weren't for our superb air conditioning system – " here, some students tittered, " – I have no doubt that we would all be perspiring a great deal and that the half of our class with delicate constitutions might very well be passed out on the floor from heat stroke. Unpleasant, no?

"Thankfully, we _do_have an air conditioning system in place, so we are able to learn and perhaps even doze off in our lecture hall." Abrams folded his arms across his chest and smiled genially at those students had who fallen asleep in the back row. "Unfortunately, an inevitability. However, you will notice at times that the air conditioning turns off. Why does this happen?

"When one chooses a certain temperature for a room – in our case, the room is set at twenty-two degrees Celsius – that is not necessary the temperature of the room at a given time. Although we chose to have a room temperature of twenty-two degrees, it would be too much work for the air conditioning system to ensure that the room is twenty-two degrees at every single second. It would be an inefficient waste of energy. Instead, the system chooses a certain range of temperature within an acceptable deviation from our preferred temperature so that, over a given period of time, the _average_temperature of the room will be the temperature that we have picked.

"This average temperature is enforced by observing upper and lower limits to the temperature. When the temperature of the room becomes too hot and reaches the upper limit, the air conditioning turns on the fans and keeps it on until the lower limit of the room temperature is reached. Once it reaches that lower limit, the air conditioning can turn off momentarily and allow the room to heat up once again."

Abrams began to pace, gesturing widely to the rest of the class. "You can understand, then, why our bodies tend to rely on negative feedback mechanisms in order to monitor the status of our bodies. It prevents conditions of the body from reaching extreme values. Think about it. When our bodies overheat, what do we do? We sweat, allowing the water to evaporate from our skin and take excess heat with it. What do we do when we are cold? We shiver and generate heat within ourselves in an effort to warm up. Negative feedback is also the mechanism by which we regulate hormone concentrations in our body, which we will discuss in greater detail tomorrow."

Jyou wrote furiously across his notebook as Abrams spoke, not even stopping to correct grammar or spelling mistakes in his notes. He pressed his pencil hard against the paper, forcefully transferring his urgency to learn into his every pencil stroke. When Abrams paused, Jyou quickly pushed up his glasses, which had been sliding slowly but steadily to the tip of his nose.

"In contrast to negative feedback," Professor Abrams continued, stepping away from the diagram that he had created for negative feedback and starting a new one, "positive feedback is the kind of regulation that _wants_ an extreme. It wants a radical change in the body's environment, and therefore isn't used nearly as often as negative feedback. The essence of positive feedback is that, as a product or a hormone is made, its presence causes a reaction within the body that will make _more_ product and _more_hormone. The product stimulates the creation of more product.

"I understand that this concept may be difficult to understand, but here is an example that may make it easier to break down." Abrams leaned back against his desk and surveyed the class as a whole. "The most popular example used in biology to demonstrate how the body uses positive feedback is to consider how a woman's body changes during labor. That is to say, in giving birth." He smiled in acknowledgment at the reactions of some of Jyou's classmates. "Perhaps it is a squeamish topic to some of you, but as it so happens, labor is considered one of the best examples of positive feedback by the textbooks."

He cleared his throat and returned to the board to gesticulate toward his positive feedback diagram. "In labor, women have contractions that move the baby out of the body. As the baby moves further out of the body, the pressure against the woman's cervix releases hormones that trigger a _greater_ frequency of contractions that contract with even _greater _force. This continues until the baby has been birthed. It is only then, when the pressure on the cervix is relieved, that the contractions end - as there is no point to having further contractions once the baby has been delivered."

Abrams glanced at the watch on his wrist. "Well, I think that's enough for now. Have a good rest of the day, and I'll see you all back here tomorrow morning. Class dismissed."

Jyou smiled as he closed his book and slipped it and his notebook into his book bag, eager to leave the classroom. As much as he found the human body fascinating, he was still a teenage boy, and he looked forward to spending the rest of the day however he wanted.

Realistically though, Jyou knew that he would either go straight home or to the library to begin studying for the next day's lecture. Even with a technically free afternoon ahead of him, it would have never occurred to Jyou to do anything _but_study.

Still, it was the fact that he _could_go and do whatever he liked that mattered. He had just stood up to sling his bag strap over his shoulder when Momoe caught his attention. "Are you off in a hurry anywhere today?" she asked him, falling into step beside him as they left the classroom. "This new snack stand opened up on the street across the way, and it looked delicious this morning when I was heading to class. You liked skewers, right?"

Jyou smiled in response. "Yes, I do. And that _does_sound delicious. But I was planning on heading back home to study some more… we have a test coming up at the end of the month, and I want to make sure that I have lots of time to prepare."

"Jyou! That's not for another two weeks! We still have plenty of time. Come _on_, just a quick snack." Momoe clasped her hands together in entreaty. "Look, I'll even pay for you - I owe you for last week's sushi anyway - please?"

He wavered, but despite the show of reluctance, Jyou knew it was useless. He was terrible at resisting girls when they made those pleading eyes - and in the face of extremely persuasive girls like the Inoue sisters, Tachikawa Mimi, and Yagami Hikari, Jyou's willpower to resist was especially nonexistent. He released a heavy sigh. "Well, I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

She grinned, the pitiful face disappearing the instant Jyou's tone betrayed his agreement. "Not at all," she replied cheerfully, leading the way across the sidewalk to the snack stand. "Come on!"

"Right behind you, future sister-in-law," Jyou agreed amiably, following just a step or two behind. He could see that Momoe's ears had turned red at his words, but the expression that she flashed him the next moment was one of embarrassed pleasure rather than one of anger.

"Don't say ridiculous things like that," Momoe said, pretending to elbow him as they waited in line for the stand. "If your brother heard you…"

"Who said that I didn't hear it from my brother first?" Jyou said mildly, looking away from Momoe's blushing face to search for his wallet. When he finally looked up, Momoe was still faintly all around pink in the face, and Jyou smiled at her kindly. "I think he likes you very much. He talks about you often."

"It's still early." Momoe shifted her weight uneasily and looked at the ground. "And Shin is applying to medical school. I like him a lot, but I don't think that he'll still be interested in little me after he goes away to graduate school, with other brilliant people…."

Jyou hesitated before ignoring the instinct in him that told him not to be too familiar with his older brother's girlfriend - he couldn't just stand and watch without at least trying to cheer her up - and laying his hand briefly on Momoe's shoulder. He squeezed it gently in camaraderie before he withdrew his hand and told her reassuringly, "You're brilliant in your own way, Momoe, and my older brother knows it. Don't expect him to discard you so easily. Give yourself some credit. Besides, Shin isn't the type of person to cast away someone he cares about just because of something like a little distance."

"We'll see." Momoe remained somber for a brief moment longer before she pasted a great smile on her face when it was their turn to order. "Two - no, four - four, Jyou? Yes, four skewers please. Um… no, those please! Oh, and one of that. Yes. How much was that again?" Momoe waved away Jyou as he tried to step forward to pay. "I told you it was my treat, you already paid for me last week…. Okay, here you go - thank you very much ma'am! Let me know if it's hot, Jyou."

Jyou took the proffered skewers and blew on one hard. He bit onto the meat. "Mmm! This is really good, Momoe."

She took a bite of her own and closed her eyes in ecstasy. "Wow." She opened her eyes and gave Jyou a wry smile. "Aren't you glad I convinced you to give it a try? Look at what you would have missed out on while trying to be such a studious student."

He held his hands up in defense. "Tease me all you want, but studying hard is the only reason why I do well in class. It pays off. Trust me, if I didn't study all the time, I would be at the near bottom of the class…. I'm not that smart, not naturally."

"Oh, yeah right!" Momoe scoffed and shook her head. "Jyou, don't even try to pull that act with me. Everyone knows that you're ridiculously smart. You work hard of course, no one would ever accuse you of being lazy, but don't put your natural smarts down." She bit off another piece of her skewer and used it to point at Jyou next. "You just need to stop comparing yourself to your brothers. They're certified geniuses, like… like Ichijouji, or Izumi. But you can't compare yourself to them and think that you're stupid in comparison! You're very smart too, you know, definitely smarter than most people."

Jyou smiled faintly but didn't answer. "Shall I walk you home now, future sister-in-law?" he asked instead, giving her a shallow bow, as if he were a servant. "As thanks for the meal."

Momoe blushed again but shook her head. "No, it's all right. I'm actually supposed to be going to visit a friend soon. I'm just going to be heading there."

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Study hard, but not _too_hard," Momoe teased. "Or you just might overload your brain."

Jyou grinned back. "But my studying is like a positive feedback mechanism. The more I learn, the more I want to study - "

Momoe groaned. "You're _such _a nerd. See you tomorrow."

He laughed and waved goodbye before he turned away. _To the library_, he decided; it was a bit further away than home, but the weather was pleasant and he wanted to enjoy the sun for a while. He took his time walking, despite the crowds of people moving quickly about him. His leisurely stroll was interrupted, though, by the sound of his cell phone ring. Startled, he patted down his pockets. "Where are you, phone?" he muttered under his breath as he roughly unzipped his bag. His phone was lit up and chiming at the bottom of his bag, and he quickly fished it out. When he noted the private phone number on the caller ID, he hesitated before accepting the call and pressing the phone cautiously to his ear. "Hello?"

"Jyouuu!"

"Mimi!" Jyou found himself smiling widely. With one hand, he zipped up his backpack again. "How are you? Where are you now?"

"I'm waiting in the airport at LAX," she answered as Jyou pulled his backpack on and began walking again. "My flight is supposed to start boarding in about thirty minutes, so I thought I'd give you a call while I waited. You just got out of your summer school class, right?"

"Yeah, I got out about fifteen minutes ago, I think. I was just heading to the library when you called…"

"Oh, were you going to study? I'm sorry, Jyou, you can go ahead and study - "

Jyou shook his head quickly, even though Mimi couldn't see him. "No, no, it's fine. I'm not there yet, still walking."

She sighed in relief. "That's good. Do you have a lot to work on?"

"I'm actually a bit ahead in my studying; I got a lot done yesterday… I was just going to review my notes from class today and then preview what we're going to discuss in class tomorrow."

"You're reading ahead?" Jyou could hear Mimi's gawk from over the phone and he smiled widely. "Gosh, Jyou, if you're ahead, just stop and go have some fun. Why are you locking yourself in at the _library_…?"

"I need to stay ahead, you know me," he replied simply. "Anyway, what did you do today? I'm sure your day in LA was a lot more interesting than my biology lecture."

"Oh, it really was a lot of fun," Mimi gushed almost immediately. "We all went shopping this morning - I didn't _buy_anything because of a lot of it was really expensive, but it was so much fun to window shop! I know you would agree if you could have seen the window displays too… We also ate out at this delicious pastry shop, all the desserts were decorated by hand, and that were all so cute! I thought about buying some extras to bring to you and the others, but then I remembered that I'm not allowed to bring food over, so you'll have you come to LA with me one day. Okay?"

"Sure, Mimi."

"Good. Okay, so after shopping and eating, I went back to my friend's house and began packing up the rest of my stuff."

"Did you remember your hairbrush this time?" Jyou teased.

"That was the first thing I packed!" Mimi said triumphantly. "Really, Jyou, did you expect me to forget my hairbrush _twice_? God, it was such a nightmare to have to go and find a replacement brush last time, those bristles kept pulling out my hair…"

"Yamato said that Gabumon really likes it for cleaning his fur, though," Jyou said mildly.

Mimi huffed. "Well, good for Gabumon, but I don't have _fur_. It was horrible!"

Jyou could help but laugh again. "Okay, okay. So you remembered your hairbrush. What about your… passport?"

"Jyou, I wouldn't have been able to get this far into LAX without my passport… the security here is crazy," Mimi replied with a pained voice. "And before you ask, I have my ticket too."

"That's good." Jyou grinned. "You know, I really am excited to see you again Mimi. And I know that everyone else will be surprised to see you."

"You have _no_idea how hard it was for me to keep this a secret from everyone. Miyako was so disappointed when I told her that I wasn't going to be able to visit this summer, and I was dying to tell Koushiro when I chatted with him last week online."

"Well, it'll be worth it to see their faces when you show up unexpectedly." Jyou could already imagine the mayhem that would break out. He had a feeling that Miyako might even burst into tears for the deception (though she would get over it soon enough). "Koushiro invited me to go to their camp event tomorrow afternoon, so I know you can easily surprise everyone there."

"What about the younger Chosen? Are they going to be there?"

"Koushiro told me that Taichi was going to be inviting them today, when he got the chance…"

"Okay, that sounds good… Wait."

"Hmm?" Jyou replied absentmindedly, as he scanned the traffic and waited for the right time to cross the street.

Mimi demanded, "You're not going to the event?"

"Well, I really need to study, and I can't ditch class to go, my parents would kill me – not to mention Shin… Professor Abrams is a friend of his; it would be terribly disrespectful…"

"Jyou! You have to go to the camp event!" Mimi exclaimed. "This is going to be our first reunion in a long time – "

"We had that party in the Digital World just a few months ago for Hikari…"

"That's different, those reunions don't count!" There was a thumping noise on the other end, and Jyou had to stifle a laugh. Knowing Mimi, she had just stamped her foot on the ground impatiently.

He asked her wryly, "And why don't they?"

"They just don't. You have to come, Jyou! How could you possibly prefer being in the library to hanging out with us…"

"I'll be free on Saturday," Jyou tried to placate the girl. "What's one day of waiting? Besides, I think it would be cruel to make the others to wait any longer than they have to see you again."

"Well, then, I just won't go until you get out of class," Mimi said defiantly. "We can go together. And besides, are you seriously going to study in the library by yourself? On a Friday afternoon? In the summer? Don't be such a stick in the mud, Jyou – please come with me to the event. Please? For me?"

"Well…"

"Jyouuuuu…"

He winced. "…Okay, fine."

"Jyou, you're the best!"

"I know what you're really doing," Jyou said warningly. "This is about Yamato and Sora, isn't it? You want us to all be there."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I think that the phrase 'power in numbers' comes to mind," Mimi said breezily. "Anyway, my flight is starting to board early, so I'm going to get in line. I'll call you as soon as I land… you're picking me up, right?"

"Yes, of course. What time are you landing again?"

"Around midnight, I think."

"Yes, I'll be there. I was going to stay up and study anyway, so it's not problem. You'll be pretty jetlagged tomorrow though… Are you sure you'll be able to stay awake enough to participate in the camp event?" Jyou asked, concerned.

"Don't worry about me, Jyou, I'm a pro at dealing with jetlag," Mimi bragged. "Just you watch, you'll be surprised to see that I'll be in perfect shape. _You'd_better get your rest though, old man, or you'll be left behind in the dust!"

"I'm not an old man –"

"Okay, I have to go now, seriously, I'll talk to you later! Bye! See you soon! Study hard!"

_Click_.

Jyou stared at the phone for a moment before shaking his head with a smile. Things would definitely be more interesting now that Tachikawa Mimi was coming back to Japan.

* * *

Nobu retied his hair as he considered the question. "I think that's it," he said at length, nodding. "You've pretty much gotten the motif of the piece down. Just work on the transitional phrasings and I'll be happy."

"Great." Yamato couldn't hide the relief - or the smile - he felt at his section-leader's approval. While Nobu wasn't unnecessarily harsh on the bass section, he _was _strict and held high expectations for them. Gaining his approval meant that Yamato was definitely moving along the right track to doing better in the orchestra. "Thanks, man, I really appreciate you helping me out with this. Hopefully, with some extra practice, I think I actually stand a chance of _not_coming under Ito's fire tomorrow."

A wry smile twitched at the corner of Nobu's mouth at the remark. "He can be difficult," he allowed diplomatically. "His methods are… controversial, and his favoritism is unquestioned and probably unethical. But he's the best for a reason. I doubt anyone else could have pushed our orchestra as far as he's done in just over a week like him."

Yamato stood up and straightened his materials. "For obvious reasons, I'm not going to agree or disagree with what you just said," he said dryly, making Nobu chuckle. "How about we just leave it at that and call it a day?" Yamato stood up to open the door, careful to leave the 'reserved' plaque on the doorknob so that no one stole his practice room while he left to stretch his legs.

Nobu chuckled again. "I can agree to that." He picked up his own instrument carefully and followed Yamato slowly out of the practice room. "Is your band arriving to practice with you again today?"

"Yeah, they should be here…" Yamato checked his watch, "soon. Ish. Actually, I never know with them. They're never consistently early or late, no matter how often I scold them for it."

"Good thing they didn't come to camp with you as part of the orchestra… Kosuke probably would have had an apocalyptic fit if they were here as students too. Though I'm sure they're excellent musicians in their own right," he added calmly, as if to reassure Yamato that he had none of the underground-musician bias that so many of the other orchestral members seemed to display.

For that, Yamato was grateful. "You're a good guy, Nobu. I'll talk to you later."

While Nobu went off to search for an empty practice room of his own, Yamato left the music cabin to get some fresh air. His mission was interrupted, however, by the presence of a certain brunet loitering outside the music cabin.

Seeing him made Yamato falter. The last time they'd spoken, their conversation hadn't exactly been friendly, and Taichi had looked at him open hostility at lunch. Still, if he was here... "Hey," Yamato greeted warily. "Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

At first, Taichi showed no signs of hearing him. He continued to pace without pause. But then, he shrugged; he restlessly kicked a small rock off the dirt path. "Long story short," Taichi said bluntly as he stopped to face Yamato, "Sora confronted me over interfering with your guys' business."

Yamato pieced the clues together. "So since you weren't in the mood to play soccer anymore, what, you decided to come and bug me instead?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Something like that," Taichi agreed shamelessly.

"What makes you think I'm not busy?"

Taichi gestured around them. "Well, you're out here, aren't you? Anyway, I figured that since your buddies didn't show up in the dining hall today to cause a scene, they're probably running late. If they're coming at all."

Yamato sighed. "Come on, I don't want people to accidentally overhear this." He waited until Taichi had fallen into step beside him before he corrected, "Actually, I told them to skip the entrance today, so they wouldn't have shown up in the dining hall anyway."

"So they're already here?"

"No, they're running late."

"Case in point." Taichi was triumphant. "Just like I said."

Yamato eyed him shrewdly. "Do you even know what that means?"

"Shut up." Taichi closed the door of the practice room behind him and stared around. "This is where you practice for orchestra after class is over?"

Yamato picked up his bass and began to finger the frets to 'Ghosts of Brandenburg', for the sake of having something to do. "Yes."

"No wonder you musicians are all crazy. You lock yourselves in closet-sized rooms for hours of your own free will just to practice? This is ridiculous." Taichi shook his head. "I feel sorry for all the claustrophobic musicians of the world. They must suck."

"_You're_ridiculous. There are different sized practice rooms, idiot. Anyway, this one just seems smaller because it has a piano and drum set in it... which I kind of need for a WOLVES rehearsal session."

"Oh."

Yamato waited for Taichi to get to the point of his unexpected visit, but the football player was wandering aimlessly around what space there was in the room. "Are you seriously just going to bug me until your ego has recovered enough to let you back to the football field?" Yamato demanded when his nerves finally got the better of him.

"Sounds about right."

There was a restlessness in Taichi's tone, though, that made Yamato regard his best friend thoughtfully. Absentmindedly twirling his pick between his fingers, he guessed, "You want to know what I said to Sora last night, huh?"

Taichi paused in his pacing around the room. He hesitated, and then leaned against the wall. His eyes were guarded as they looked at each other. "I... yeah. Yeah, I do."

"You want all the gory details or just the summary?" Yamato asked sarcastically, leaning back in his chair.

"Ugh. Do I look like I do angst? You can keep the gory details to yourself." He made a face. "Just tell me the bottom line."

"Figures," Yamato muttered under his breath before answering in a normal tone, "Well, the gist of what happened last night was that I apologized for being a bastard. Sora accepted my apology, and then we agreed to stay out of each other's way for a while."

Taichi released a breath, clearly relieved. Then he seemed to remember who he was talking to (which annoyed Yamato to no end) and became suspicious. "She accepted your apology that easily? Or are you leaving out the part where she yelled at you and shattered your self-esteem?"

"I thought you just wanted the bottom line."

"Yeah, well, forget I said that. So did she?"

"What, did she 'shatter my self-esteem'?" Yamato rolled his eyes. "Just because that's Sora's preferred method of reprimanding you doesn't mean that I get the same treatment, genius." He then sobered. "She really did just accept my apology, though. I mean, we talked about it a little... I explained where I was coming from, she told me her perspective... but she didn't get _mad_at me or anything."

"She didn't?" Taichi blinked disbelievingly. "At all? She just let you off like that?"

Guiltily, Yamato remembered that there had been a point in his conversation with Sora that they had approached anger: when he had admitted to her that their almost-kiss had been completely thoughtless on his end. But he wasn't about to tell Taichi about that. He knew exactly how his best friend would react to the news, and despite their proclivity for getting into fist fights with each other, Yamato didn't relish the prospect of a bloody nose or black eye. "Yeah, she just let me off," Yamato confirmed. "I was expecting her to get mad. I mean, it's Sora. It's not that she has a short temper, but she does get pretty worked up when she gets upset. And I thought she would be, from the way you made it sound. She was really calm about it all, though. I don't know why. I couldn't figure her out at all."

He felt inexplicably frustrated as he thought back on Sora's cryptic behavior once again, and the frustration leaked noticeably into his tone. Hearing it made Taichi frown in response. "I talked to her yesterday in the afternoon," he admitted, "and she seemed pretty cool about everything by the end of it, too. But I thought that was just because she was talking to _me_... I thought for sure that she was still pissed at you."

"Hmm." Yamato rubbed his calluses against each other thoughtfully. "But she got mad at you today when she confronted you over what you did?"

"What _I _did? You mean, saving your ass? A little thanks would be nice, you know," Taichi protested sourly. If it weren't for me, Sora'd still be pissed at you."

"Thanks," Yamato answered promptly, "now get back to my question."

Taichi made a crude hand gesture at Yamato but answered seriously. "Well... actually, she didn't get mad at me either. She said that she 'wasn't mad, just annoyed and irritated'," Taichi quoted generally. He leaned forward. "Which reminds me, did you tell her that I told you to visit her?" he demanded.

Yamato shook his head vehemently. "She figured it out on her own. Why, did she say that I named you?"

Taichi relaxed and shrugged easily. "No, I was just checking to make sure your stories fit together."

It was Yamato's turn to be sour. "Thanks for your faith in me."

"Better safe than sorry," Taichi responded distractedly. Both of them fell into silence, preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Then... "Thanks, Yamato."

Surprised, Yamato looked up at Taichi. "Huh?" he said inarticulately.

With his eyes firmly gazed to the ceiling, Taichi elaborated stiffly, "I'm really glad that you actually went to talk to her. I mean, you didn't have to, not after the way I acted… I just felt really helpless about the whole situation with Sora, and I took it out on you. So thanks for listening instead of just blowing me off like I deserved."

"Then I'm sorry too." Taichi's gaze snapped back down to meet Yamato's at that. "I should have listened to you when you warned me about bringing the WOLVES here. Or I should have at least been more careful about them."

Taichi nodded slowly before grinning. And just like that, all of the tension between them evaporated. "Yeah, you could have," he agreed easily.

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Do you really have to be a jerk about it?"

"Nah. But it's more fun." Taichi socked Yamato in the arm - gently enough to avoid a (big) bruise, but hard enough to sting a bit after the fact. "I guess we're cool now, huh?"

Yamato punched back. "I guess. Just, do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

"Get your ass to the football field. I love you like a brother, Taichi, but I will probably beat the living daylight out of you if you try to hover near me when I'm practicing. I can't concentrate when you're around."

Taichi snickered at the threat. "You can't concentrate because of my hovering or you can't concentrate because my musk is just so -"

Yamato punched back harder before the football player could finish the thought. "Perv."

Taichi examined his arm. "Wow, I think I'm going to get a bruise. Just an observation, but I _think _that being cooped up in here is making you more aggressive than normal."

Yamato snorted. "You have no idea. I wish we could just haul over to the Digital World to blow off some steam. The longer we stay here at camp, the more stir-crazy I can feel myself becoming."

"Nothing like blowing shit up in the Digital World for some first class stress relief," Taichi agreed. "I would _kill_to do some Chosen work right about now."

"You and me both."

* * *

Takaishi Takeru discreetly slid the note across the table, just into the corner of Yagami Hikari's peripheral vision.

Without turning her head, she slowly reached out for the note and casually swept it into her lap. When Hikari was sure that the Kokatorimon wouldn't notice her inattention for a while (after all, it had blustered on, heedless of audience interest, for the past ten minutes on a repetitive tirade - she was sure she wouldn't miss anything important), she unfolded the note and looked down at Takeru's neat hand:

_I think that we've fulfilled our Chosen duties quota for the next month with these guys! How long can this Kokatorimon talk without stopping for a breath?_

Hikari looked up to meet Takeru's eyes, though it was a bad idea: they hastily cut their eyes away from each other after only a short glance, lest they burst out laughing and anger Kokatorimon.

That would be really, really bad.

After all, the giant bird Digimon had a petrifying gaze in its arsenal of attacks. Hikari liked to think Tailmon and Patamon could easily handle the Kokatorimon, but it was better not to invite danger unnecessarily. Besides, an attack now would mean that the entire afternoon's efforts would be wasted... and a repeat of the day was not something that was high on her to-do list.

Actually, continuing to sit here and listen to Kokatorimon's rant was not something high on her to-do list. Unfortunately, carrying out her Chosen duties _was _up there, and so Hikari reminded herself to sit still and listen.

Thankfully, it seemed like Kokatorimon occasionally did need to replenish its oxygen supply: when it finally paused to take a long breath, Takeru stood up and quickly said, "Thank you, Kokatorimon. I think that we have a good understanding of the situation from your flock's perspective."

"Oh, well, good," the giant bird squawked, visibly miffed at the interruption but shaking it quickly off its feathers. "So, how are you going to deal with those Falcomon, _bakawk!_"

"We can't say for sure right now," Hikari answered diplomatically, standing up as well. "We're going to need to discuss what you and the ambassador Falcomon from earlier in the afternoon told us with the other Chosen. We'll do our best to come up with a fair and just solution to the problem, though, so don't worry."

Kokatorimon eyed her suspiciously, clearly unconvinced. The bird stepped closer, making Tailmon hiss and stalk slightly forward in warning. But Kokatorimon ignored the cat Digimon and continued to glare at Hikari. "Fair by whose standards, _bawk_! I've heard about how you Chosen operated over on Server, but we Digimon on File Island do things differently. And -"

"If you mean that we're unfair in that we don't favor Adult level Digimon over Child level Digimon, than I guess you're right. We have different ideas of what 'fair' means," Takeru said strongly, stepping closer to the Digimon as Tailmon had done, effectively stopping the bird's progress. "Let me remind you of what we told you and your flock when we first arrived from the Falcomon's call: the Chosen are sympathetic to both of your situations, and we will do our best to negotiate a solution. However, whatever solution we come up with will be a _compromise_. Meaning that both your Kokatorimon flock and the Falcomon flock will have to deal with some unpleasantness. Don't expect us to order the Falcomon off their lands just because you feel like moving in."

Hikari watched as the Kokatorimon turned its glare on the Chosen of Hope, who didn't back down. Eventually, the Kokatorimon gave in, ruffling its feathers in a show of annoyance. "_Bawk, _fine. So be it."

Patamon and Takeru escorted the Kokatorimon out of the negotiations tent while Hikari opened her arms to allow Tailmon to leap in. "You're so tense," Hikari remarked, surprised, as she rubbed down the cat's soft fur. "It wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I hate birds," Tailmon grumbled, closing her eyes as she rested her head against Hikari's shoulder. "Not all birds, but these Kokatorimon and Falcomon have been getting on my nerves all day. Thank Azulongmon that Ken and Wormmon had the good idea to put this tent up to hold the negotiations. If we had to deal with the heat _and_the birds..."

Hikari scratched the Digimon apologetically in her favorite spot, making Tailmon purr contentedly. "Remind me to call Ken later when we go home for dinner, okay? We'll thank him together."

Before Tailmon could answer, the tent flap turned up. "Iori and Miyako are so lucky that they weren't on duty today," Takeru sighed as he returned inside the tent. In the privacy of the tent, away from the Kokatorimon and Falcomon, he shed the mantle of Chosen from his shoulders. As a result, Takeru's entire demeanor shifted from tense and rigid into something more relaxed but tired. He, too, was carrying his partner Digimon in his arms, and Hikari sympathetically gestured Takeru to sit next to her. "I almost wish that I was back in cram school right now with Miyako instead of... well, you know."

"Mhm." She peered at Takeru carefully and asked the question that had been on her mind all afternoon. "Is it the fighting that's getting you down? Or is it because a Kokatorimon is involved?"

Startled, he looked at her again, a shy wonder widening his eyes. "You remembered?"

"I remember everything that you've written so far about the first adventure," she replied wistfully. "I've heard all the stories already from Taichi and Sora, but it's different being able to read about it. It makes me feel like I was there, too."

Takeru's foot nudged against hers, banishing away the beginnings of a familiar helplessness. "Well, the important thing is that you joined up with us when it mattered most," he murmured warmly. "Who knows what would have happened to everyone in Odaiba if you and Angewoman hadn't stopped Vandemon when you did?"

Shaking her head, Hikari argued confidently, "You all would have found a way eventually. Good always prevails."

"Maybe, but there probably would have been a lot of casualties before we got there," he pointed out seriously.

"Takeruuu," Patamon unexpectedly whined, making both Takeru and Hikari jump, "can we talk about something else? Thinking about Vandemon and the what-if's are so depressing."

"Sorry, Patamon." Takeru laughed, and the somber mood dissipated as quickly as it came. "Okay, it's a deal. Any suggestions for a new topic?"

Tailmon lifted her head off from Kari's shoulder. "Let's finish with the bird situation so that we can report to Tentomon and get out of here."

Hikari deposited her partner on the table and withdrew her notepad. "Okay. Let's go over the points of the conflict and figure something out."

The conflict was unfortunately a typical one in recent months. Normally, the Kokatorimon flock lived on Mount Panorama, one of the smaller mountain ranges on File Island, while the Falcomon flock lived at the base of Mihirashi Mountain. However, a famine earlier in the year devastated the Kokatorimon's usual feeding grounds. The giant bird Digimon flock decided to trek across the Gear Savannah in an attempt to find a better food source. Unfortunately, the food source they found happened to be on the Falcomon flock's feeding grounds.

Of course, as both Kokatorimon and Falcomon as a species tended to attack first and ask questions later, a fight inevitably ensued.

Daisuke and Ken promptly arrived that morning to stop the fighting. It took both ExVeemon and Stingmon to separate the two flocks and keep them apart. After Takeru and Hikari arrived, the better part of the afternoon was used to convince the flocks to allow the Chosen to mediate the conflict and to choose ambassadors in order for negotiations to proceed.

There wasn't much that the two sides could add in the afternoon's discussion that wasn't already immediately apparent at first glance. The Kokatorimon wanted food to eat, preferably enough for the entire flock to satisfy their gluttonous tendencies. The Falcomon, conversely, wanted to protect their feeding grounds and chase the giant bird invaders away. Neither side was willing to bend, and it would take all of the Chosen's persuasive powers to get a peaceful outcome.

"We'll need to do a reconnaissance around Mount Panorama to see if the feeding grounds have been as badly damaged as Kokatorimon claimed they were," Tailmon said practically when Hikari finished her recap. "If they are, we'll need to start an initiative to heal the lands. There are probably other Digimon in the area that are affected by the famine too. And if the Kokatorimon are exaggerating, we can call them out on it and tell them to go home."

"Good point, Tailmon." Takeru nodded. "I'll tell Miyako to do that tomorrow - she's been saying that Hawkmon has wanted to stretch his wings for a while."

Hikari tapped her notepad as she thought. "If the Kokatorimon are telling the truth," she mused slowly, "we'll need to evaluate the amount of food that the Falcomon's feeding grounds produce. We'll also need to figure out what the absolute minimum amount of food will be needed to feed both flocks to see if feeding grounds are even sustainable for the both of them to live on."

Patamon looked up at Hikari. "Can't we teach the Kokatorimon how to farm? That's what the Yokomon on the other side of Mihirashi do, and they're just Baby levels. If they can do it, so can the Kokatorimon!"

"That's always an option. I'll note it down." Hikari smiled. "I don't know if the Kokatorimon are interested in a farming lifestyle, but at least it's another alternative we can offer them."

The four of them kept at it for another hour or so until Patamon and Takeru's stomachs both growled audibly. Takeru flushed and Patamon grabbed at his stomach.

Hikari giggled. "How about we stop here and pick up later? I'm getting hungry too."

"Good idea," Takeru agreed readily. "Let's go find Tentomon."

They didn't have to look for long: the insect Digimon crossed their path as they were making their way back to the Digi-Gate. "Where have you been?" Patamon asked in greeting while Tentomon neatly folded his wings beneath his wing covers. "You left when Daisuke and Ken had to go to football practice but didn't come back..."

"Ken thought it would be a good idea to take a look at Mount Panorama to see if the Kokatorimon were telling the truth, so I flew by," Tentomon explained.

"We were just talking about that!" Hikari exclaimed, exchanging a look with Tailmon. "What did you find, Tentomon?"

The insect Digimon shook his head. "Nothing out of the ordinary - it was just like the Kokatorimon described. There was no food in sight."

"Looks like the solution won't be as easy as ordering them back to Panorama then." Takeru sighed. "And we have to come up with a compromise soon, before the flocks start fighting over food again."

"We'll figure something out," Hikari reassured him, patting his shoulder. "And I just remembered - my big brother is going to be coming home soon since the career camp is almost finished. If we haven't come up with a solution before then, he and the other older Chosen can help us."

"Oh right, I forgot about that!" The Chosen of Hope grinned. "They're done in... what, two more days? It'll be nice to have a meal with Yamato again. When I went to visit my dad over the weekend, I remembered why Yamato is always the one who cooks, not me or my dad."

Patamon shuddered in agreement. "It was _horrible_!" he whispered to Hikari, who giggled.

"Will either of you be going to the camp showcase on Friday?" Tentomon asked. "Koushiro mentioned that family and friends were invited to come in our last correspondence. Did your older brothers invite you?"

Hikari nodded. "Mom and Dad are visiting my grandparents, so I'm going to go to show some family support."

"I'll probably go too. My parents are busy with their work, so I need to be their ambassador," Takeru said lightly.

She glanced at Takeru (she couldn't help the reflex to check on him whenever he mentioned his family), but was reassured in seeing that his words weren't hiding any bitterness or sadness. "I think we're the only ones going... Iori is preparing for his entrance exam, and the rest are busy with other things. Will you be going, Tentomon?" she asked the Digimon kindly.

Tentomon sadly shook his head as they arrived outside the Digital Gate. "Koushiro and I agreed that it would be better if I did not go. I don't make a very convincing stuffed animal, and the current Digital World sentiments among humans would make it safer for me to remain here."

Hikari frowned at the unpleasant reminder. "Things will change one day," she told him determinedly. "You and the others deserve to live life with your partners without having to hide what you really are."

"I hope you're right, Hikari." Tentomon sighed before gesturing to the television. "You'd all better get going before the Gate closes."

"We'll tell Koushiro you said hello when we see him on Friday," she promised the insect Digimon.

Tailmon leapt up into Hikari's arms. "We're all ready to go," Tailmon said. "Do you have your Digivice?"

Hikari nodded and withdrew the device. "Let's go home."


	14. Decision Day

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** I created a new blog through which the curious can follow my writing progress and whatnot at com. Feel free to stop by, take a look around, maybe even submit prompts if you feel like it! I've found that prompts are a productive way for me to work through my writing blocks, so it's a win-win for everyone.

This installment took longer to get around to than expected (Beta ever-so-helpfully noted that I had more typo and grammar mistakes in this chapter than normal… I can only hope I didn't make more in my final edits), so apologies for the delay. Nonetheless, I hope this chapter is an enjoyable read. Enjoy, and please review when you're done!

* * *

**Under the Surface**

_Chapter XIV: Decision Day_

* * *

When Wednesday morning dawned on Camp Odake, it seemed as though the student body - along with the staff of camp teachers and counselors - had finally realized that Friday's showcase was quickly approaching. The past week and a half had been a study in procrastination for the exhibition day. Now, panic had at last struck them all; the atmosphere of the entire camp had been upended. Teachers rarely lingered in the cafeteria during lunch now, instead hurrying off to the classroom cabins for last-minute teaching plan preparations. For the students' part, afternoon sessions were dedicated no longer to soccer games. They instead prepared and worried about the impending Friday disaster. (After all, there was no doubt in any of their minds that Friday _would_ be a disaster. How could it be anything else, given how much they had all slacked off and procrastinated?)

As such, tensions were taut and tempers were running wild. The aggressive students snapped at the slightest provocation, occasionally resorting to the threat of fists to settle differences. Meanwhile, the more sensitive students teetered on the fine line between functionality and hysterics, occasionally retreating to the bathrooms for a good cry.

By the time Friday finally arrived, there had been four emotional breakdowns and two near-fights in the music department alone - and normally, the orchestra students had a reputation for being _sedate_. One could only wonder how the numbers were tallying up in the cutthroat business class, where Teacher Hiroyuki had accidentally created a classroom that practically bred rivalries and competition.

Camp drama was at an all time high; luckily, Yamato had managed to escape being a participant in any conflicts. Sure, Kosuke's reign of terror over the orchestra had gotten stronger ever since his suspension had been lifted. But Yamato had been careful not to neglect his bass practices, balancing them evenly with his WOLVES rehearsals, so Kosuke had no reason to seek him out. It was a welcome respite from what orchestra class used to be like.

And, since Tuesday, all had been quiet between Yamato and Sora.

He didn't really know how he felt about that, though.

On the one hand, there was relief - a great amount of it, actually. Relief that he and Sora hadn't gotten into a huge fight, relief that she had forgiven him. But that relief was countered by an undeniable sense of guilt, because there was still so much that he hadn't been able to tell her, still so many things that he had to take responsibility and apologize for. There was no relief for that guilty weight, though, if he wanted to respect Sora's request for distance between them. He would have to continue carrying those heavy truths alone.

Maybe that was supposed to be his penance for what had passed. Wasn't it a punishment of its own, to hold onto regrets and apologies without any chance for recourse? What right did he have to force his burdens on her anyway?

Maybe it was better this way.

Still, even though Yamato couldn't turn to Sora to talk, he yearned to talk to _someone_ who could help him work through his confused thoughts. Taichi was out of the question: even though he tried to be fair, the brunet would always have a soft spot for Sora. Taichi would get mad at Yamato no matter what he said. Nor could Yamato go to Takeru. The very idea of asking his baby brother (well, technically Takeru was far from a baby, but that was beside the point) for advice on any topic made Yamato shift in discomfort. _He _was supposed to be the mature one, the advice-giver; he disliked even the thought of turning that relationship on its head.

Eventually, Yamato realized that there was really only one friend who he could turn to.

"That sounds like a difficult situation," Gabumon admitted in a hushed voice, his gaze clearly concerned even through the filter of Koushiro's laptop screen.

Yamato sighed, combing his hair back roughly with his fingers. "I just don't know what to do. I keep feeling like I should go and talk to her about how I feel, you know? There was so much that I wanted to say to her, but I didn't know how to bring it up. And now that we've agreed to stay out of each other's way, I'm stuck."

His Digimon partner looked as lost as Yamato felt. "But you've figured out what you want to say now? If you do go to her?" Gabumon asked at last.

Yamato hesitated. "Kind of."

Gabumon waited expectantly.

"Well, I guess I would tell her that I still care for her a lot." Yamato traced the lines of the keyboard with his finger, avoiding the webcam. "But I don't think she would believe me. With our history, and considering the way we've gone back and forth since coming here..."

"You would have to be very convincing to prove that you mean what you're saying."

"I know. I feel like shit over the way things turned out." Yamato covered his face with his hands. "It's not like I intentionally set out to hurt her. Everything fell together in that way, and I've kind of had to deal with them as they came at me. But I don't know how to apologize for all of that without sounding like a jackass who's only making more excuses."

A silence fell over them. When Yamato lowered his hands, he hesitantly met his partner's eyes. Gabumon's gaze was sympathetic, though, not condemning. Knowing that Gabumon was worried reminded Yamato of how lucky he was to have such a devoted friend. It eased some of the heaviness he felt still pressing down on him.

"Let's talk about something else," Yamato suggested finally, not wanting to dwell on his own problems any longer. Cheerfully, he asked, "What have you and the others been up to in the Digital World?"

Gabumon's eyes lit up.

Ten minutes later, Yamato rocked back in his chair, shaking with laughter. He pointed at Gabumon when he recovered, grinning. "You are a _genius_. That's brilliant!" He laughed again and asked eagerly, "Then what did he do, when he found out how you guys pranked him?"

"He doesn't know yet. Hopefully, it will stay that way!" Gabumon looked extremely pleased with Yamato's reaction. "There was a moment when he was still tangled up in the plastic wrap that he might have heard us from our hiding spot - that was terrifying! But Tentomon and I were very careful not to leave a trace when we made our getaway, so I think we're safe."

"Poor Agumon. He never saw it coming."

"Well, he should have! After that last prank of his -"

"Was that the one where he switched your shampoo with magenta dye?"

The Digimon turned magenta himself at the mention of it. "Let's not bring that up again. Some things are better off forgotten."

"Aw, come on, Gabumon," Yamato coaxed fondly. "It only lasted for a few days. Besides, only real men can wear pink with confidence, so that makes you all the more impressive."

At that, Gabumon narrowed his eyes. "I've never seen _you _wear magenta before."

Yamato's answer came a beat later. "Magenta doesn't look good with blond hair. Only girls can get away with that."

"Uh huh." Gabumon remained unconvinced but allowed the topic to drop. There was no satisfactory conclusion at the end of that line of questioning, anyway.

Before Yamato could defend himself against Gabumon's skepticism, however, Yamato noticed the dining hall doors starting to open in the periphery of his eye. Maintaining a casual pose, he let his hand rest on the back of the laptop - ready to angle the screen away and quietly say his goodbye, if necessary. He relaxed, though, when he saw that it was just one of the camp counselors, preoccupied with wheeling in a cart of hot food.

"How much longer are you staying online? Won't you have to go soon?" Gabumon asked, bringing Yamato's attention back to the computer.

"A few more minutes, I think. Once breakfast is officially served, the dining hall will probably fill up... I think that a lot of people are going to try and come in early for breakfast so that can finish their preparations for the day."

"You don't seem very nervous, though," Gabumon noted.

Yamato considered it. "I am a little nervous about orchestra. Since there are going to be scouts, I don't want to mess up and make the whole orchestra look bad." He stretched his spine and sighed. Thanks to Kosuke, Yamato felt like he had all the negatives of _that _particular scenario all figured out. "But I'm not really thinking about the WOLVES. It's just another performance for us."

The door of the dining hall began to open again, and Yamato paused to see who would be coming through. This time, it was Sora who entered.

His surprise at seeing her made his hand jerk by reflex, nearly making the laptop close before he realized what he was doing. As Yamato caught the lid and pushed it slowly back into position, a prickle of some emotion passed through him. Something akin to awkwardness and discomfort, he understood belatedly; Yamato had taken pains not to be alone with Sora in the past couple of days while he sorted out his feelings, and he certainly wasn't ready to be alone with her now. But there was no avoiding it. She caught his gaze from the end of the hall, and the uncertainty he felt in his chest bloomed on her face. She hesitated.

Yamato swallowed. "Morning," he called, relieved when his voice didn't waver.

He counted it as another victory when Sora's face cleared and she slowly approached his table. "Hello," she greeted with a quiet smile when she reached his side. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Talking to Gabumon, actually." Yamato angled the laptop slightly toward her. "Want to say hi?"

Her face brightened. Sora came over to sit by Yamato's side - he carefully avoided her elbow as she scooted her chair closer - before she smiled at the screen. "Hello, Gabumon."

His answering smile was as warm as ever. "How are you, Sora?"

"I'm okay! Just a little tired. I stayed up late last night to finish the mural. Oh, did Yamato tell you about it?"

Gabumon shook his head. "Not really. He only said that you were doing art for your camp course."

While Sora began to explain in greater detail what she had been up to during camp to Gabumon (who was, as ever, an attentive audience), Yamato tried to hastily organize the thoughts that had been eluding him. But even though Sora was sitting right beside him, so close that they would touch if he just moved his foot a few centimeters, he was still at a loss. Whatever apology he had been meaning to give her still refused to formulate for him. He could only sit and listen without comment, all the while cursing at his own ineptitude. When had it become so difficult to just _talk_ to Sora?

Yamato remained preoccupied with his own thoughts before he noticed the camp doors opening again. The newcomer looked faintly familiar to him - a pretty Caucasian girl with long blonde hair - and he cleared his throat when he realized that he remembered seeing her with the art crowd. "Sora, is that your friend?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes." Sora's eyes darted to Yamato's in a split-second of panic when the blond girl clearly caught sight of Sora and started to head in their direction. Sora quickly promised Gabumon, "I'm going to be visiting Piyomon after I leave camp, so I'll visit you then."

Gabumon nodded quickly in understanding, and Sora then turned to Yamato. "I'll see you later?" She rose from her seat.

"Yeah. Bye." He watched Sora casually intercept her friend to lead her away from Yamato's table. When he was certain that they wouldn't be coming back, he sighed in relief and returned his attention back to the laptop to find that his Digimon partner had been observing him.

"If you miss her so much," Gabumon said carefully, "you should just tell her instead of waiting to find the perfect words. I'm sure that as long as you say what you feel honestly in your heart, Sora will understand."

Yamato nodded hesitantly, doubt slowing his reaction. "...I'll try."

* * *

Linda stepped closer to the mural wall. "Wow, this is pretty good. Did you paint your section all by yourself?"

A pleasant warmth heated Sora's cheeks at the other girl's compliment. Still, she felt compelled to dismiss it; she couldn't assume full credit for a project that had prominently featured the help of others. "Thanks, but I got a lot of pointers from Paul and the other artists." Sora traced the line of a tree branch fondly with her fingers. "They helped me correct some things and showed me lots of different techniques to try out. Without their help, it wouldn't look even half as good as it does now."

"Oh, come on, Sor." The casual nickname fell easily from Linda's lips as she earnestly reasoned, "Don't be so modest. I'm sure that you didn't need that much help. After all, if you didn't have some talent to begin with, they wouldn't have made you responsible for such a large section of the mural. You did great."

Sora blushed deeper at Linda's praise. With a small cough, she deflected the attention by gesturing Linda to step back so that they could admire the mural in its entirety. "The whole wall looks great, though. I can't believe that we actually pulled it off."

Linda smirked, seeing through Sora's change in subject easily. Still, she agreed, "I think everyone is going to get a huge shock later this morning when they come to breakfast. Which should make Paul happy." She laughed. "We're gonna have to try and stop the success from going to Paul's head, though, or else he's going to be insufferable."

Sora grinned, amused at the sheer improbability of _that_ happening. She had never met anyone so unaware of or indifferent to their own accomplishments as the watercolor painter, and Sora imagined that the likelihood of his ever getting a swelled head was fairly slim. The same couldn't be said for some of the closer friends of her acquaintance... like Taichi, for example. For the moment, though, she shook the thoughts away and refocused on Linda. "By the way, how is your dress coming along? Did you two manage to finish it last night?"

Linda wrinkled her nose and tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "Well, it's coming along, I guess. That's the most I can say for it. Yuu and I are having some… artistic differences." Her lips pursed. "He's very much into the _avant garde _aspect of fashion. He wants a million pleats and sparkles – a 'bam' factor, as he likes to call it. And I like that stuff too, don't get me wrong... "

"But just in moderation?"

Sighing, Linda nodded. "This is the first time he's working with fabrics - he originally came to art for sculpting, do you remember? - and so he doesn't know realistically how long it takes to finish something. Whenever he suggests something, I have to figure out how long it would take to work in an alternation, and we just don't have enough time. Which basically means that I've been vetoing him at nearly every turn, and he's starting to resent the fact that I won't let him experiment as much as he wants. " She huffed a short breath. "I don't _like _having to be the killjoy, but it's Friday morning now, and we're still not done. If I had actually let him go ahead with his extravagant ideas, we'd be even further behind than we already are."

Sora didn't know how to respond to that, and Linda seemed too upset to continue talking about it, so the girls wordlessly walked to the breakfast bar for food. When they sat down to eat, however, Sora said lightly, "I'm done with my portion of the wall now, and I promised to help the other artists finish the detailing on their parts of the mural. When I'm finished though, maybe I could help you guys finish your dress." She smiled. "The fashion show isn't until after dinner, right? Is that enough time for me to help out?"

"Oh Sora, would you really?" Linda placed a hand on Sora's forearm and squeezed it gratefully. "I would love to have you help us. Do you have experience with sewing?"

"Very little. My mom fixes all of that for us, and I've never been interested in clothes enough to ask her to teach me," Sora admitted. "But I know how to do simple things - putting on buttons and finishing hems. If you just show me what to do, I'm sure I could figure it out."

"If you can finish hems, that's good enough for me." Linda's entire face brightened. "Maybe with another sensible girl around, Yuu will finally see reason. I owe you one for this."

Sora grinned but warned, "You don't owe me anything yet. Let's wait and see how much I can help out first; we can reevaluate my usefulness after that."

* * *

Even at the best of times, the music room at camp was in general disarray. People left their instrument cases strewn across the floor. String musicians fought over the best chairs to sit on. Digital tuners were misplaced, and there was a distinct animosity between the brass section and just about everyone else in the orchestra.

Still, even that was nothing compared to the complete chaos that Wakana found herself standing in now.

By nighttime, the orchestra would be on stage, showing off all they had learned to scouts from all over Tokyo. Needless to say, it was a do or die moment. And right about now? Wakana was betting on 'die'; the musicians were about one inch from murdering each other, which didn't exactly give her confidence in their cooperative abilities.

Wakana sighed as she held her cello and surveyed the floor. Kosuke and his gang managed to claim all the practice rooms, but she wasn't so desperate for one that she was willing to ask any of them to share with her. And yet, how would she be able to practice in the main room? The brass musicians were drowning everyone out with their instruments, having refused to be relegated outside as they usually were.

"We always get forced outside practice," the furious trumpet section leader had argued with Kosuke. "While you guys are in here, with your stupid air conditioning, we always have to suffer out in the sun. No more!"

It was one of the rare times that Kosuke had been forced to back down, especially when the trumpet leader had appealed to Manami for support. In the interest of neglected justice, the brass had been given first rights to the main room... which meant Wakana could barely hear herself think over their noise. She felt doubtful that she would be able to hear her cello in the cacophony either. Most of the other string musicians grumpily resigned themselves to practicing outside, shooting disgruntled looks behind them as they went. The noise level was so bad that even Susumu, who was by far the most tolerant musician of the bunch, had thrown his hands up in defeat.

"There's no point in me staying now," the pianist had told Wakana on his way out. "I have all my music memorized, and if I stay in here, I'll just get a headache. And what good will that do?"

Susumu had left with the intention of helping the other camp careers prepare for the camp festivities. As far as Wakana now knew, he had made his way to Taichi's understaffed business stall and was pitching in there. The pianist had also informed Wakana in his last text that Koushiro, Hayate had been employed by the camp counselors with the rest of the engineering class to set up a concert stage and various sound projectors throughout the camp grounds.

She was a little jealous of Susumu's freedom; she wanted to be able to leave and see what the other camp careers were pulling off for the showcase, too. But Wakana had already made the decision not to invite her family or school friends in order to have more practice time. The chance of getting scouted by an important orchestral group was too significant to leave to luck. She reminded herself to push aside her curiosity about the other classes and just focus on herself. Perfection wasn't something that she could reasonably achieve in the time that she had left - she wasn't gifted enough for that. But Wakana was aiming for the best that she could personally do. Only time would tell if that effort was enough to give her the break she had been dreaming for.

Of course, the path to do the best that she could possibly do was turning out to be fraught with obstacles. She had expected Kosuke and his gang to swoop down on the practice room, so that wasn't a huge setback. However, she had had no way of foreseeing that the brass section would render the entire cabin useless for practicing. Huffing to herself in disappointment, Wakana decided to leave the music cabin. She would have to take her cello back to her cabin and practice there. It was an unfavorable scenario: she had realized early on in camp that the acoustics of the regular cabins were fairly terrible. Still, what other choice did she have?

Wakana had just finished putting her cello back into its hard protective case when someone cleared their throat loudly behind her. She turned around and paused. "Kayo." Wakana stood up and faced her section leader with squared shoulders and her chin just a touch too high to be casual. "I was just about to leave to go and practice."

"I need a moment of your time." Kayo was stiff where she stood, tension in her uncurled fingers. "Come with me to my practice room and we'll talk there."

Crossing her arms, Wakana shifted her weight otherwise but did not move. "Why? Here is fine."

Kayo was not amused. "You want to talk over the noise from the brass sectionals?"

"No, but I happen to have a lot to do." Wakana waited. "You know, if you're only going to tell me to practice more - don't worry, I'm planning to."

"It's not that."

Exasperated, Wakana planted her hands on her hips. "Then what is it?"

A flash of emotion came and went in Kayo's eyes before the section leader - to Wakana's surprise - lowered her gaze to the floor. It was as if Kayo's guard had fallen: the rigidness fell from her form as she began to twist her fingers together. "I need to ask a favor. From you."

Wakana blinked. "A favor," she repeated, mindful of the prickling suspicion riding up her spine. Was this some kind of trick?

She waited for Kayo to elaborate, but when Kayo remained mute, Wakana's feeling of suspicion grew. Her knee-jerk reaction was to reject Kayo's request. Wakana didn't _want_ to help Kayo, not after the way she had tried to force the cello section to mold to her will. Kayo had never let them forget that she had won the section-leader seat, that she had so much promise that Kosuke himself tutored her privately. Wakana hated arrogance. She made no effort to hide it - why else would Kosuke and his crowd dislike her so much otherwise? But she bristled at Kayo's particular brand of arrogance because it was hubris, built on imagined self-importance. Really, Kayo was only marginally more skilled than the second-chair cellist. For her to strut around the cello section and look down on them when she was barely any better than they were was unbearable. And frankly, with what little practice time Wakana had left for herself, she wasn't in the mood to entertain Kayo's ego for some vague 'favor'.

Even as she inwardly prepared to reject Kayo's request, however, Wakana unwillingly paused before speaking. It wasn't in Wakana's nature to be so cruel. She couldn't force herself to be harsh, not when someone was asking her for a favor so desperately.

Because Kayo had to have been desperate for help if she had come to Wakana instead of Kosuke. That choice made Wakana hesitate even more; it made question her instinctual suspicions against her section-leader.

When Wakana cautiously reexamined Kayo's face, she saw something in the other cellist's expression that struck her as familiar. The set of Kayo's face held the same kind of vulnerability that Wakana had seen in Yamato's face, that first day when he had admitted to her that he didn't know how to read music. And, try as she might, the parallel to her friend was too much to ignore. Just as it did that first time, Wakana felt herself soften toward the girl in front of her. "All right." Wakana picked up her cello case and expectantly face her disbelieving section leader. "Let's go to your practice room and talk."

* * *

"Let's run it through the bridge again, guys. Akira, you need to be carefully about the tone of your notes, it's coming off a bit sharp – and Takahashi, can you loosen up on the cymbal crash? It takes Yutaka a while to recover and jump back in, and the louder you crash, the harder it is for Yutaka to hear his signal."

"All right." Takahashi uncharacteristically shot a glare at the pianist. "Though it wouldn't be so much of a problem if he would just keep _count _–"

"Stuff it, drummer boy, your pause in the bridge changes every time!" Yutaka's lip curled. "How am I supposed to count to something that always freaking changes?"

"Guys!" Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to hold back his headache. "_Knock it off_. Less whining, more playing, all right?"

Yutaka and Takahashi both shot resentful glares at their leader for that. But Yamato didn't back down, and after a moment, they both reluctantly deflated and grumbled apologizes.

"It's okay." Yamato shook his head as he looked back at his music sheet. He then signaled at Akira to start. "On your count."

They ran through the song again. It was better this time, but Yamato still wasn't satisfied. There was something off in the sound – something that he couldn't quite put his finger on –

"Why does your solo sound so damn angry, Ishida?" Yutaka asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yamato frowned briefly before busying himself with making notations on his music. "What are you talking about? It's not angry."

"Well, maybe not angry, exactly," Takahashi conceded with deliberate care, "but it definitely isn't mellow either."

Akira cleared his throat and tried awkwardly, "Look, Yamato, you've been sounding off the past couple of days. And it's your business, man, we're not gonna meddle – but it's affecting the way you play."

"And don't try to bullshit with us, either," Yutaka cut across before Yamato could give them his standard answer. "We know you better than that; something has to be going on for you to be doing more sighing and brooding lately than a hormonal girl."

"... A hormonal girl?" Yamato repeated evenly when he recovered, raising an eyebrow at the unrepentant set of Yutaka's jaw.

Takaishi and Akira made horrified, incomprehensible noises - shaking their heads vehemently as they physically distanced themselves from the volatile WOLVES pianist. Yutaka, though, was unafraid. "What?" He spread his hands. "Gonna hit me? Go for it - I won't even hit you back. I make it a point not to fight with girls."

Five beats of tense silence. Then, Yamato made a sound that was a cross between a chuckle and a snort. "Bastard. What the hell have I ever done to you for you to call me a girl?"

Like that, with Yamato's smile, the tension vanished. Yutaka grinned and pointed at the bewildered WOLVES in the corner of the room. "Nothing to me personally, but those two have been freaking out after you nearly ripped their heads off during Wednesday's practice. And when they freak out from your hormonal rages, they tend to mess up my playing too." He shrugged. "Just looking out for number one."

"I guess I _have _been an ass lately." Yamato rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassment washing over him. "Look, I owe you all an apology. There was just some drama with some of my friends here, and it's made me distracted and frustrated. I'm sorry for being an idiot about it and taking it out on you guys."

It was probably an inadequate apology in its vagueness, but none of the other members felt the need to push the issue. Yamato was grateful for the distance, even though some might have found it strange for a band of musicians to be so wary of sharing their feelings with each other. As he rallied them for another dry run of their music lineup, though, Yamato mused that maybe their distance was what made the WOLVES _work_. They left their private thoughts private and expressed their emotions through their music instead.

They didn't stop practicing until Yamato heard the orchestra congregating outside in the main room for their noon rehearsal. "I really think that we'll sound great tonight," he told them honestly as he packed up. "Everything is really smoothing together. Just stay focused and relaxed, and we'll be good."

Takahashi tucked his drum sticks away in his practice bag with his music. "Yutaka and I will come back around, what, six-thirty tonight?" At Yutaka's nod, Takahashi then turned to Akira. "Are you sure you don't want to head back to Tokyo with us? What are you planning on doing while you stay here?"

"I just wanted to hang around and see what was going on for the camp festival. I don't really feel up to commuting back into the city." Akira elbowed Yamato and waggled his eyebrow. "Besides, they _did _say that family and friends were invited. I'm here as Yamato's guest!"

"Right," Yamato said dryly. "Anyway, if you two are leaving, you should probably get going now. I have to go to practice, and no amount of smooth talking on my side will be enough to convince Manami that you guys are responsible enough to be left in the practice rooms without supervision."

Takahashi exchanged a glance with Yutaka before he frowned suspiciously at Yamato. "I think I heard an insult veiled somewhere in there."

Yamato didn't even blink as he held the door open for them to leave. "Yes, well, you were the one who got talked into letting Akira and Yutaka make that grand entrance on Tuesday afternoon. Don't think that I've forgotten about that."

Yutaka sniggered. "Yamato, ever heard of 'forgive and forget'?"

"I can forgive, but I never forget."

"I would have never pegged you down for the type to hold grudges, Ishida," a new voice commented.

Yamato turned and kept his expression neutral. "It's not that I hold grudges, Ito. I just have a good memory."

"That's Ito -?" Yutaka angrily hissed. Just as Yamato turned in alarm, recognizing the fighting tone of Yutaka's voice, Takahashi and Akira both grabbed the pianist's arms to hold him in place. All it took was another quick glance from Yamato to realize, however, that neither restraint would be effective if Kosuke pushed his luck. Akira looked just as ready to fight as Yutaka did, and Takahashi glared at Kosuke with obvious loathing.

Yamato looked sharply at them. The last thing he wanted was to give Kosuke more ammunition to bother them with - and the concertmaster would almost certainly interfere with their afternoon practice if they gave him the opening to do so. "I'll see you guys later," Yamato said firmly, locking eyes with each of the WOLVES and silently willing them not to make a scene. "Give me a call when you guys are planning on heading back, okay?"

"Right." Takahashi tugged at Akira and Yutaka, and they followed his lead reluctantly. "We'll see you later, Yamato. Good luck with rehearsal."

Even as they walked away, Yamato could pick out Yutaka's voice as he muttered darkly, "If he so much as _thinks _about sabotaging us tonight…."

"Your WOLVES are certainly loyal," Kosuke remarked as Yamato's shoulders fell with relief that a confrontation had been avoided. "Do they always follow what you tell them to do?"

"I don't command them, if that's what you're getting at," Yamato said as faced the violinist. "Don't talk about them as if they're trained pets. It's rude."

"Oh, my mistake. I forgot that you're _wolves_, not 'trained pets'. It refers to the fact that you're all unskilled and ill-disciplined, right?"

Tired of and annoyed by Kosuke's worn-out insults, Yamato merely rolled his eyes. "As much as I would love to re-discuss the skills that my band may or may not possess, I have better things to do with my time than beat this dead horse over again with you. Excuse me." With that said, Yamato bent in a shallow bow before neatly stepping around Kosuke to go to the main room. He did not bother to look back.

* * *

"Mimi, are you sure this is the right way to go?"

The brunette girl fanned herself with a hand, casting a despairing glance up at the hot sun. Other than that, however, she remained calm. She even smiled broadly at him when she looked back down. "Relax, Jyou! I remember the map. Besides, I'm sure everyone else here is walking to Camp Odake too." She gestured at the random strangers who passed them by on the hike up into the forest.

"I should have printed out Koushiro's directions from how to go from the bus stop to the camp before picking you up at the airport," Jyou fretted. "What if these people we're following are on a spiritual hike or something? We could be going in the wrong direction!"

Mimi blocked Jyou's path. Without speaking, she lifted her oversized sunglasses and amusedly peered up at him.

"What?" Jyou asked, made nervous from her scrutiny.

"Take a deep breath and exhale slowly," she instructed. "It'll stop you from hyperventilating."

"...Are you making fun of me?"

"No, of course I wouldn't!"

"I am not hyperventilating, Mimi," he informed her. "I'm just _worrying. _There is a difference."

"A very slight difference, for you," she teased.

"Hey!"

Mimi suddenly moved, interrupting the progress of a group of boys going up the same path that they were on. "Excuse me, boys, but are you all going to Camp Odake?" she asked with a friendly smile.

The boy closest to Mimi turned faintly pink (Jyou didn't blame him, as Mimi was very pretty when she unleashed the full force of her smile) and stammered, "Odaku, er, Camp Odake? Y-Y-Yeah, we're all going up. Um. That way?" He pointed up the path, dazed, before looking back at his friends. But they were no help; they just looked similarly at a loss for words.

Mimi, however, either didn't notice or was too polite to comment on it. Instead, she merely widened her smile. "That's what I thought. Thank you so much for your help!" Mimi then turned to Jyou triumphantly, linking her arm with his and forcibly guiding him up the forest path again. "See, I told you so! You worry too much, Jyou. One of these days, you're going to get a stroke from all the worrying you do."

"You mean, an ulcer," Jyou corrected automatically, sparing a glance behind him in curiosity to see if the boys had recovered yet from their unexpected encounter with Mimi (they hadn't). Before he could make a comment about it, though, Mimi suddenly tugged on his elbow harder. "_Oof_ - Mimi, please be careful, you almost hit my humerus there -"

"Sorry! But I couldn't help it; look, Takeru and Hikari are already here!" Mimi pulled on Jyou harder now, eager to meet with their young friends. "Hello there!"

Jyou couldn't hold back a smile at the sheer shock and happiness on Hikari and Takeru's faces as they turned to Mimi's voice. "Surprise," Jyou called out to them.

Mimi released her hold on him as she bounded ahead to warmly embrace Hikari. "It's so good to see you again!"

"I thought you weren't going to visit this year!" Takeru cheerfully accepted a hug from Mimi next.

"I wanted to make it a surprise this year. Jyou helped me book my tickets and I told Koushiro, but I made them promise not to tell anyone."

Jyou nodded solemnly. "She really did. She threatened bodily harm to me, so I had no choice but to keep quiet."

"No I didn't!" Mimi looked aghast that Jyou would suggest such a thing; Hikari, on the other hand, succumbed completely to giggles.

"Regardless of threats, you're still an accomplice!" Takeru told Jyou, his eyes bright with mirth. "That means that you have to take equal responsibility for the crime, you know."

Hikari elbowed Takeru gently before patting Jyou reassuringly on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Jyou, we all know how hard it is to say 'no' to Tachikawa Mimi." She then hugged Mimi again. "Oh, it's so good to see you again! We all missed you so much. Our get-togethers never feel complete unless you're here with us, too."

"Well, I'm here now." Mimi beamed. "Come on, let's go and try to find everyone else. That way, we can all catch up together."

Takeru nodded. "Why don't we split up to find everyone? Yamato told me where I could find him, and I think Sora's art class is supposed to be nearby his."

"Ooh, good idea. I have Koushiro's number - I could track him down," Mimi contributed.

"Taichi told me that the business and culinary classes have concession booths in the picnic area," Hikari added.

The three of them turned as one to look at Jyou, as if waiting for the eldest male in their company to approve of the plan. Jyou had to smile wryly at that; it reminded him strongly of how the Chosen always deferred to either Taichi or Yamato on their original Digital World adventures. Old habits die hard, apparently. "That sounds like a good plan to me, Takeru. I'll go with Mimi to look for Koushiro, and we'll all meet Hikari at the picnic area at two for lunch."

* * *

It took a bit of time and careful searching upon entering the Camp Odake grounds to find the picnic area. Once she did, however, Hikari easily caught sight of her older brother at the end of a long line of stalls. "Taichi!" she called out, waving at him as she ran in his direction.

Taichi whirled around, genuine pleasure already lighting up his face. "Hikari!" He grinned as he opened his arms to intercept his younger sister, and Hikari squeezed him with all the strength she had. He mussed up her hair fondly. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, big brother."

He released her. "I didn't expect you to get here until later with everyone else... and where are they, anyway?"

"Takeru went to go find Yamato and Sora. And Jyou's here - he went to go get Koushiro." Hikari explained to her brother the rest of the details of their plan of splitting up. She was careful to leave out any information about Mimi's presence, though; if she was honest with herself, Hikari really wanted to see Taichi get surprised later when everyone gathered in the picnic area.

"Ah okay. By the way, you look taller," Taichi noted distractedly. "C'mere -" he moved her up closer to him. "Holy crap, you're just under my nose now. When did this happen! I was only gone for two weeks!"

"Taichi!" Hikari pulled away and laughed. "Mom says that I'm having a growth spurt this summer."

"Well that's just unacceptable." Taichi narrowed his eyes in serious thought. "I guess I should sleep more, huh?"

"I guess so." She took the opportunity to look around the picnic area as her brother continued to grumble about how fast she was growing. The stall behind Taichi caught her attention - mostly because some of the people were blatantly watching them. She poked her brother. "Um, Taichi? Are those your friends?"

He turned around - the other people waved - and he lightly slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, dang, it totally slipped my mind to introduce you to them. Sorry, let me fix that little mistake right now." Hikari followed after him, and Taichi gestured widely at the people working in the stall. "Meet Team Platinum, consisting of Kohei, Kiku, Umeko, and Eiji." Each member of Team Platinum waved back in greeting at the introduction. Taichi continued, "Team Platinum, this is my younger sister, Hikari." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Nice to meet you, little Yagami," the one named Kohei said with a grin. "Feel free to buy some of our snacks with your meal tickets."

"Yep, because we need, like, _all _the help we can get." Kiku nodded cheerfully.

Smiling uncertainly, Hikari's eyes darted automatically to Taichi for clarification. "Of course I'll buy your snacks. But what do you mean by -"

It was clear that Taichi didn't want to explain, however. "Nothing, nothing," he said instead hastily, waving his hands in the air as if that would be enough to disrupt the turn of the conversation. "She's just joking; Kiku always likes to crack these jokes – nothing serious, nope, not at all. But Kohei's right, if you'd like some of our snacks, we'd really appre –"

Kohei coughed to interrupt her brother's scattered distraction attempt. "Taichi has too much pride to admit it to you, but the truth is that Team Platinum is ranked pretty low against the other teams in our class, so we're going to need a miracle to help us save face, today."

"What kind of miracle do you mean?" Hikari asked, intrigued.

The rest of Team Platinum all looked at Taichi in prompting, and he sighed, sensing that it would be easiest if he just explained it all to Hikari. "As a business team, we kind of goofed off our first couple of days here, when we were building up the starting scores," Taichi explained. "But by the time we realized that we actually wanted to do well, it was too late to save ourselves from the fact that we're in dead last place. It didn't exactly help, either, that one of the members of our team jumped ship last week because we weren't doing such a good job."

Hikari noticed that some of the team members were exchanging annoyed looks with each other at Taichi's words. It seemed that her brother was giving her an abbreviated version of what was sure to be a sensitive topic with Team Platinum. She kept quiet though; she was used to Taichi censoring details when he talked to her. Plus, she figured that it would probably be easier to just ask Kiku or Kohei for the whole story later on, when Taichi was preoccupied with something else.

Taichi continued to explain, "We've managed to bring up our rank from last place this past week, but we're hoping to really redeem ourselves by selling out all of our snacks today – provided by the culinary skills of Umeko and Eiji." The chefs both paused from their preparatory work to smile at this mention. "We're taking a gamble on making our snacks cost more tickets. Since we're understaffed, we're hoping that the profit margin per rice cake will make up for our small supply… if that makes any sense." Taichi rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "We weren't allowed to premake any of the snacks. All of them have to be made fresh as they're ordered"

He trailed off, and Kohei took over in concluding with an ironic smile on his lips, "So, as you can guess, we're kind of screwed. Like I said, we need a miracle today – a _big _one – if we want to prove to the others that we're not total slackers. That we can be good at this, if we set our minds to it."

Hikari nodded slowly at the end of this, the wheels in her mind already spinning with the beginnings of an idea. When she made her mind, she turned to Taichi, hands planted on her hips. She waited expectantly for her older brother to catch on. "Well?"

Taichi blinked. He looked at Hikari's determined expression, took in her stance. Understanding flooded his features. "Oh. No. No, no, no, no, no. Don't even think about it!"

"Why not?" Hikari protested.

"That's against the rules!"

"What rules? Prove it and then I won't say another word about it. But if there's no rule against it, why not?"

"Um. Are we missing something here?" Kiku asked hesitantly. Her words were echoed by the puzzled looks from the rest of Team Platinum. "What's going on?"

Hikari ignored Taichi and faced the team – in particular, Umeko and Eiji. "I'm decent with kitchen work. My mom's not the best cook around, so I learned to cook for myself and Taichi pretty fast. How long will it take to learn what you're doing?"

"Are you offering to help us out?" Eiji asked incredulously, blinking in surprise.

"Of course!" Hikari smiled. "You guys said that you needed a miracle, right? I say this in the humblest way possible, but miracles are the kind of thing my friends and I specialize in. I'm sure I could convince them to help out too, when they arrive."

"But Hikari, it's not _allowed_," Taichi countered. "We're not allowed to get help from visiting friends or family –"

She crossed his arms at and lowered her eyes for a moment. _Think, Hikari, think. There has to be a way around it. _Another idea struck her. "But what if we're not helping you? What if we're _working _for you?"

Taichi stopped and frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"It's a business strategy, isn't it? To contract outside help if you're understaffed with something? You just have to pay us and then we'd technically be working for you. Your business teacher shouldn't have anything to object to about that."

"But we don't have any money to pay you with. How would that work?"

Hikari cast her eyes around the stall for inspiration and then snapped her fingers. "How about food? We work in exchange for... let's say five snacks per hour. I think that's fair." She appealed to the rest of Team Platinum, knowing that she would have an easier time convincing the rest of them than it would if she only directed her pleas to Taichi. "Not everyone can cook, but we can all help out with something: washing the materials, packaging the food, handling the tickets when people buy the snacks. And of course, we would work in shifts, too, so that your workers get to have breaks in accordance to labor laws. That way, half of us can stay here to work and help out with the stall, but the others can take breaks to look around the rest of the camp fair." Hikari smiled widely when she saw the approval and hope on Team Platinum's face - and it only grew wider when they all turned to face Taichi.

Her big brother threw up his hands with a sort of weary resignation when he saw that he was the only person opposed to the plan. It was a gesture that Hikari was very familiar with, as it never really took long for her older brother to capitulate to her demands. "But I want to double-check with our business director before I give a 'yes' to this plan," Taichi said sternly. "Kohei, come with me. Let's see if we can get Hiroyuki to agree to this business tactic."

"Don't forget to keep it quiet," Kiku reminded them as Kohei crossed to join Taichi's side. "We don't want anyone else, like, catching onto us too early. Otherwise, our advantage will disappear!" The boys nodded before going off to find their director. Meanwhile, Kiku turned to Hikari and gestured for her to join the rest of them. "Well, we might as well get what help we can get from you before they come back. Why don't you come over here and watch how Umeko and Eiji work on the _daifuku_? It can be tricky!"

Hikari observed the two culinary specialists of Team Platinum carefully while she waited for Taichi to return. When Umeko suggested that Hikari try her hand at actually making the _daifuku_, she tried to mimic the way Eiji methodically mixed the ingredients and formed them into beautiful, tasty looking rice balls. She had just managed to finish her second rice ball when the boys returned.

"What did he say?" Kiku asked immediately, anxious as the rest of them to know.

Taichi and Kohei both broadly smiled together, and all of Team Platinum and Hikari seemed to release sighs simultaneously in response. "Hiroyuki and Hoshi thought that Hikari's idea was too clever to veto." Kohei chuckled and shook his head. "So they're giving it the thumbs up and wishing us the best of luck."

Taichi's eyes were bright with anticipation. "Let's see if this is the miracle that Team Platinum needs to turn this competition around!"

Team Platinum cheered.


	15. In Defense of Meddling

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** I consider it a victory that this isn't the longest break I've ever had in-between chapter updates (count your silver linings, right? Right.) Thanks for your patience as always; I'm grateful that you're still here and reading _Under the Surface_.

For the curious, visit my Tumblr for an extended A/N. Otherwise, please read, enjoy, and review!

* * *

**Under the Surface**

_Chapter XV: In Defense of Meddling_

* * *

He was officially lost. Ruefully, Takeru stopped underneath a tree for shade, listening keenly for the sound of music in the air. While his ears strained to hear, a wistful thought passed through him: _I wish Mom and Dad could have come today._ Just as quickly as the thought came, however, he dismissed it. If Yamato wasn't bothered by their non-appearance, it wasn't Takeru's place to feel indignant about it on his brother's behalf either.

Takeru knew that Hikari worried about him when it came to his wishes for his family. A part of him still nursed that secret hope, in vain as it was. The likelihood of his parents reuniting grew slimmer as the years passed and they grew more comfortable with the distance they had given each other. However, the truth was that Takeru had largely come to terms with that reality. In growing up, he had learned to accept that his family would never be 'normal'.

He was… okay with that.

No matter the distance between his family - both physical and emotional - it didn't change the fact that Takeru loved them all the same. He loved his father's quiet dedication to their family and his mother's unwavering compassion for her children. And above all, Takeru loved his distant and yet fiercely overprotective brother, who thought nothing of throwing himself in harm's way if it meant that Takeru would be kept safe.

In his most morbid moments - late at night, when sleep wouldn't come - Takeru wondered what would happen to his family if he were to die. It wasn't that he entertained thoughts of suicide: Takeru had too much to live for to even consider it. But he couldn't help but contemplate about his place in the world, the impact he would have if he were to dissolve into nothingness. The conclusion that Takeru came to was one of fear. His family, fragmented as they were, depended too much on him to keep them all together. Without him, his family would fall apart. He knew that his parents would bury their grief by throwing themselves entirely into their work, and it was with a terrible certainty that Takeru knew that Yamato would lose himself to depression.

Yamato probably would have never brought up his separate journey with Gabumon had Takeru not been intent on chronicling their first Digital World adventure. And even then, it had taken months before for Yamato was ready to confess to Takeru of how he had nearly lost himself in the darkness. It was, in Yamato's own words, a result of his insecurities and fears of being an inadequate brother to Takeru and friend to the rest of the Chosen. Takeru had never before doubted how important he was to Yamato. However, it wasn't until that conversation that Takeru truly understood just how much Yamato _depended_ on him. In hindsight, it explained so much of Yamato's behavior in a way that had never occurred to Takeru before.

So, even as the intensity of Yamato's protectiveness lessened as Takeru grew, he knew that there would always be some part of Yamato that worried for Takeru's safety. Knowing that was enough motivation to have Takeru text Yamato regularly. They rarely had conversations that way: Takeru would usually send short messages like "_Just got back from DW, all fine," _ and Yamato's responses were almost always monosyllabic ("_good.")_ Despite what the appearance of Yamato's short replies might have implied, however, Takeru knew that Yamato was grateful for the updates. That was enough for Takeru to keep texting, even when Yamato had gone off to camp and was predictably busy with his music studies.

Still, there was no substitution for actual conversation, and Takeru was more than a little excited to see his big brother again.

Eventually, Takeru found his way to the music cabin. He followed the sound of music until he saw musicians clustered outside a large cabin, practicing together in smaller groups of similar instruments. Yamato quickly spotted Takeru and jogged over, smiling widely and pulling Takeru into a quick hug. Pleased, Takeru clapped Yamato on his back. "You're in a good mood," Takeru said, unable to stop his grin from spreading.

"I'm glad to see you." Yamato shrugged, although he narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked Takeru up and down. Takeru shifted his weight uneasily, uncertain under his brother's gaze, until Yamato commented, "By the way, you're growing way too fast. I won't forgive you if you grow taller than me, you know."

Takeru held up his hands peaceably. "It's not my fault. It's in our genes."

Shaking his head, Yamato chuckled. "You found your way here okay?"

Takeru admitted, "I was a little lost when I first arrived - your directions did _not_ help at all - but following the sound of you musicians practicing helped a lot. I'm not interrupting your rehearsal or anything, am I?" he asked anxiously, glancing over to the musicians who were still practicing. "I know you said to come by as soon as I arrived, but - "

His older brother waved his hand, dismissive. "It's okay, I'm going to be busy practicing after lunch anyway. I was waiting for you to arrive so that I could take my break now and spend time with you until then." Yamato paused, cocking his head. "I thought you said you were coming with Hikari. Did she already go to find Taichi?"

Nodding in confirmation, Takeru added, "We ran into Jyou when we arrived. The three of us thought it would be a good idea to split up and gather everyone for lunch. Jyou went to get Koushiro, and I volunteered to find you and Sora." He was very careful to omit Mimi's name, and luckily Yamato didn't catch him at it.

"Everyone else is busy? I mean, Iori and the rest of them."

"Iori and Miyako are busy studying. And there's a situation in the Digital World right now, actually. Daisuke and Ken volunteered to stay behind to be on alert in case anything gets out of hand. But tomorrow is mine and Hikari's turn to keep an eye on things, so they'll be free to spend time with you then."

Yamato frowned, rubbing his jaw with his knuckles. "A situation in the Digital World, huh? Hmm. Okay. Bring this up again later, at lunch or something," he instructed. "We should make sure that everyone else knows about the problem, and we can figure out a solution together."

"We didn't bring it up before because Jyou's been busy with summer school and the rest of you have been here… Anyway Yamato, it's not a big deal. We _can_ take care of it on our own, you know."

"I know. I didn't mean it like that." Yamato's expression softened. "I just meant that it would be better if we spread out the workload. It's not fair on you guys to have to shoulder all the weight of Chosen responsibilities, after all."

Takeru couldn't help but clap Yamato's shoulder again at that. "I know. Thanks for looking out for us, Yamato."

"Of course." Yamato cleared his throat. "We should probably get going if we don't want to keep everyone else waiting. You said that we're supposed to get Sora too?"

Glancing at his watch, Takeru nodded. "Yep. Good call, let's go." They began to walk together, and Takeru found himself naturally falling into synchronized step beside Yamato. Cheerfully, he remembered to ask, "Speaking of Sora, how is she doing? Are you guys getting along better now? I know that before you left for camp, you had mentioned that things were much more friendly between you two."

"Oh. She's okay. I guess."

Although their stride didn't slow, Takeru looked over at his brother with raised eyebrows. Unsure of the current status of Yamato's tenuous relationship with Sora, Takeru thought it would be best to err on the side of caution. "Okay," Takeru said eventually, his mind whirring to guess at what had changed. "I guess something happened between the two of you again. Right? I mean…did you…" He searched for a neutral word, "have a disagreement or something?"

Yamato raised his own eyebrow at that. "That's an extremely neutral way of putting it."

"A spat, then. Or a tiff." Takeru grinned before he bit his lip a little. "So did you?"

It seemed that Yamato was disinclined to answer. That didn't surprise Takeru in the least. What did surprise him was that Yamato eventually _did_ answer - reluctantly, but he still said, "Several, actually. Camp hasn't exactly been… what I had imagined it would be."

All Takeru had to do was take in his brother's expression for a moment to glean all he wanted to know about how Yamato felt about this latest step back in his friendship with Sora. Although Takeru would have liked to pull his brother to a stop so that Takeru could look him in the eyes, Takeru knew better. Sometimes the only way you could get Yamato to open up about his feelings was to avoid looking at him entirely. It made it easier for Yamato to pretend that he wasn't being vulnerable. "And how's Sora dealing with all this?" Takeru prompted. "I mean, is she mad at you? Should I go get her alone? I don't want you two to feel uncomfortable."

"No, it should be all right. It's just…" Yamato shrugged and admitted, "We've been giving each other 'space' so that we could figure things out. When I saw her this morning, it was... weird. I don't know. I don't really know where either one of us is standing in this."

Several questions came up in Takeru's mind, and he struggled to hold them back. Eventually, he checked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Go for it."

"What exactly did you guys fight about this time? It must have been pretty serious if you guys are giving each other 'space' again."

Again, Yamato took his time before he spoke. Haltingly, he said, "Sora got upset a couple of days ago over the WOLVES. It was mostly my fault… I didn't realize at the time how much I'd hurt her. Then there was some drama with Taichi because of how insensitive he thought I was being. And I was," he snorted, "but I couldn't see it at the time. By the time I finally got to apologize to Sora…"

Takeru waited patiently.

With an air of resignation, Yamato said flatly, "Long story short, she asked me if I wanted to get back together or not."

Yamato's words hit Takeru hard, a combination of disbelief and shock. He was so taken aback that he nearly missed Yamato's emotionless conclusion, "I told her I didn't know, so she told me to leave her alone. So that's where we are now."

"You - " Takeru had to stop walking, unable to articulate the rush of words that came to his mind. He shook his head in disbelief and then _stared _at his older brother. "You told her that _you didn't know? _Yamato! No offense, but that was seriously the worst thing you could have said to her!" he cried, an unwilling disappointment at Yamato searing through him.

If Takeru's emotional outburst offended Yamato, he didn't let it show. Instead, Yamato said matter-of-factly, "I wasn't going to lie. What else could I say when I _don't_ know that answer, not even for myself?"

"God…you... Big brother, the answer is right in front of you." Takeru shook his head, exasperated.

Yamato crossed his arms. "What are you talking about?"

"Look, I know that your messy break up has made things more confusing. Obviously you still have unresolved issues, plus whatever guilt you feel over it... And with Sora telling you to pretty much leave her alone, I _get _that that complicates things. But you're letting that all cloud what you already know for certain." Takeru looked directly at his brother. "Yamato, if you really just wanted to move on and not get back together, why does her telling you to leave her alone bother you so much? What's stopping you from moving on?"

The silence that followed was heavy. Yamato didn't speak, but Takeru had no intention of break it. This was something that his big brother _needed_ to understand.

However, it seemed that Yamato didn't want to confront the truth. "We need to keep moving, we shouldn't keep the others waiting," Yamato said instead, deflecting Takeru's question and turning to walk again.

"You still have feelings for her."

Yamato stopped walking, though his back remained turned to Takeru.

The certainty he felt rang in each word he said. "Deep down, you know that you want to get back together."

His brother stood so still. Whatever hopes Takeru had that his certainty would inspire Yamato, however, were dashed when he said, "Regardless of whether or not I have feelings for Sora, I can't just ask her to get back together. That's not good enough. There's nothing I can say or do to erase the fact that I made her miserable. She deserves better than me."

"But you also made her happier than she's ever been," Takeru protested weakly, his heart aching at the sheer defeat in his brother's voice. "Your whole relationship was more than just the bad ending. Don't you remember?"

At last, Yamato turned around, his face far too composed to be authentic. "So you want me to talk to Sora."

Takeru answered gently, "Personally, I think Sora deserves to know that you still have feelings for her. She opened up her heart to you. The least you can do is give her the truth in return. But honestly, what I want doesn't matter. If you think you need to talk to her, then you should. But it has to be your choice and no one else's."

* * *

A shade fell over Koushiro's laptop. "Time to go eat lunch, Izumi."

Without pausing his typing, he requested, "Just a moment, I'm almost there." A few clicks and then he saved his programming. "All right, I'm d - Mimi!"

She giggled at his stunned reaction. "See, I _told_ you that he wouldn't have suspected anything," Mimi remarked over her shoulder to Jyou, who smiled in greeting at Koushiro. Meanwhile, Mimi sat down on the bench beside Koushiro while he was still shell-shocked. "Jyou thought for sure that you would have figured out that I was coming to visit because I had asked for your help in looking for airline deals."

"No, I had no idea. When you said that your parents wanted you to stay in New York for the summer, I assumed that was the end of it." Koushiro began to smile widely, having recovered and now feeling happy in the presence of one of his closest friends. He shut his laptop and slid it back into his bag so that he could focus on her. "It's a delightful surprise to see you again."

"Well, now I'm starting to feel jealous," Jyou joked. "Maybe I should have made my coming a surprise, too. Then Mimi here wouldn't be getting all the attention."

Mimi flipped her hair over her shoulder and shot a grin at the biology student. "If you're feeling so neglected, we can always change places. You move to New York and I'll move back to Odaiba - I'd be more than happy to trade!"

Jyou and Koushiro both laughed at that. "Who else knows that you're here?" Koushiro asked. "I assume that I'm not the only one who has been duped."

"As of right now, only Jyou, Takeru, Hikari, and you know." Mimi mischievously admitted, "I'm looking forward to surprising the others. I've already bet with Jyou that Miyako is going to scream when she sees me!"

Koushiro didn't have to expend a lot of effort to imagine that particular scenario for him to immediately nod. "I'd calculate those odds to be at least three to one at a conservative estimate. I'm sorry to say it, Jyou, but you've made a bad bet there."

"I didn't actually agree to the bet." Jyou's smile was as wry as ever. "I know Miyako better than that."

"I certainly hope that you do."

Jyou unfolded a paper and adjusted his glasses. "So according to the events itinerary that we received, it looks like lunch is being served in the main clearing with dessert being sold by the business and culinary classes. Would you lead the way, Koushiro?"

Nodding agreeably, Koushiro did just that. They took the scenic route to the clearing so that he could point out the various displays of the other classes. There were miniature building models created by the architecture class, as well as a few demonstrations being held by the physics class, that seemed interesting. But to be honest, Koushiro felt more interested in catching up with Mimi and Jyou. He was reassured in learning after a few minutes' conversation that the two of them were mostly unchanged. It was nice, knowing for certain that his some of his friends hadn't transformed too much in the time between visits and become strangers to him.

On their way to the business stalls, Jyou became distracted by the biology class demonstration. "Sorry, do either if you mind if we stop for a bit? I'd like to…"

"Not at all, go ahead," Koushiro said encouragingly, Mimi nodding in agreement. "We'll be right here."

"Isn't it cute how he's so into science?" Mimi noted, smiling a little. "You know, it was really hard for me to tear him away from studying to come today. He almost didn't come!"

"I am not surprised by that revelation at all."

Mimi was inexplicably indignant. "But you and the others are our friends! We have to be here, to support you all." If Koushiro hadn't been paying attention, he would have missed the speculative look that Mimi gave him next. "Speaking of friends," she said slowly, her tone full of intention, "did you ever find out what happened with Sora and Yamato last week? I've been worrying about the both of them ever since you told me."

He blinked. It took him a moment to mentally organize the developments that he had noticed in the past week and a moment longer to figure out an appropriate response to her question. He was mindful of the fact that neither Sora nor Yamato would appreciate him gossiping about them, and so Koushiro eventually settled on saying, "In a way, I suppose." He shifted uneasily under Mimi's rapt attention. "I believe that Yamato and Sora had a disagreement of sorts. Something about Yamato accidentally hurting her in some way. I am unsure of the specifics of what it was over, but they seemed to have moved past that incident since then."

"Oh." Mimi tapped her chin, pursing her lips in thought. "So they're friendly now?"

Koushiro said, "I believe so, yes. As far as I can tell." He waited expectantly for Mimi to continue questioning him, but it seemed that for the moment she was satisfied. By the time Jyou returned, she was all smiles. Koushiro was relieved that she was willing to let the topic rest.

If he had learned anything about interpersonal relationships during his time in camp, it would be that meddling in other people's affairs was generally a terrible idea. One had only need to look at how upset Sora had gotten with Taichi to learn _that _particular lesson.

Upon arriving at the main clearing, thoughts of Sora and Yamato's complex relationship disappeared completely from Koushiro's mind as he was surprised by how many people were gathered around the business stalls. The clearing was a bustling mecca of activity, with a few dozen people looking around for food to eat and a handful of students calling out advertisements for their desserts. There were even more people - students and guests alike - occupying the picnic benches and sitting under the trees, eating and laughing. "I knew that there were going to be a lot of visitors today," Koushiro remarked in an aside to Jyou, "but this is more than even_ I _expected."

Jyou nodded. "How are we going to be able to find the others in this crowd?" he fretted. "There's just too many people here. And I don't see any open tables for us to all sit at."

"Don't worry, there's plenty of trees and shade to go around," Mimi reassured. She went on her tip-toes and her face brightened. "I think I see Taichi and Hikari already - come on!"

Mimi's enthusiasm at being reunited with their friends made her march away, and Koushiro and Jyou were left to hurry after her lest they become separated by the crowd. When they finally caught up to her, they arrived just in time to see Taichi's shocked expression.

"Come here, you!" Taichi hugged Mimi, lifting her off her feet and making her giggle. "You said you weren't going to make it this year!"

"Doesn't it just make my arrival more thrilling, though?" Mimi trilled as she stepped back. "I had to make sure that you would all miss me first!"

At that point, Jyou came forward to say hello to Taichi as well. Koushiro exchanged smiles with Hikari, who moved away from her brother. "It's good that you came as well," Koushiro said when she came closer. "Just like old times, isn't it? At least, it will be when Yamato and Sora arrive with Takeru… I assume he came with you?"

Hikari tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "He did. Takeru volunteered to go get them, actually, they should be on their way soon. And it _is_ really nice," she agreed. "Tentomon says hi, by the way. I saw him a few days ago."

Koushiro nodded. "What were you visiting for? Just a routine patrol, or…" He trailed off significantly, mindful of their surroundings.

"Why don't we talk about it later, when we're all eating lunch?" she suggested. "It's kind of important, so it'd be best to tell everyone at one time instead of having to retell it multiple times."

_And when we will be out of earshot of those who should not hear_, Koushiro understood. He nodded and then asked aloud, "When are we eating lunch? Are we going to wait until after Taichi is done with his stall?"

"About that." Taichi cleared his throat. "I was actually hoping that you guys would help me out with something important. Only if you don't mind, though, there's no pressure."

Koushiro exchanged a look with Jyou and Mimi. "We're not going anywhere. What kind of assistance did you have in mind?"

Quietly, under the cover of the overall noise of the area, Hikari and Taichi filled them in on Team Platinum's business plan. "We checked it with Hiroyuki already - it's all approved," Taichi concluded anxiously. "So if you guys are down - and like I said, there's no pressure if you don't want to - but if you do, my team would really appreciate it."

"We could always use more helpers making the food," Hikari added. "They're not too difficult to make. I can teach you."

Mimi clapped her hands. "Well in that case, sign me up! I've always wanted to learn how to make _daifuku. _Jyou, Koushiro?"

"It would probably be best if I stayed away from the food," Jyou said self-deprecatingly. "I have traumatic memories associated with food preparation. But I would be more than willing to handle taking orders and dealing with the ticket sales."

"I can assist Jyou with that as well. I don't think that now is the time for me to experiment with making the _daifuku_," Koushiro added.

There was no doubting the relief on Taichi's face at their words. He clapped Koushiro on the back. "With you guys manning the counter, that'll give me and Kohei a chance to advertise the _daifuku_ and get some more people headed our way with their tickets. You're the best."

In the interest of being efficient with the time they had left, Koushiro immediately followed Hikari behind Team Platinum's booth to get started on working. It was simple enough to figure out how everything was organized, and so it wasn't long before Koushiro and Jyou were taking charge of the stall's transactions. Behind them, Koushiro could already hear that Mimi was enthusiastically picking up everything Umeko and Eiji had to teach about _daifuku_. He was certain it was only a matter of time before she charmed them completely, as she did everyone else she met. But Koushiro soon was distracted from that train of thought by the arrival of a large group of girls who ordered a couple dozen _daifuku _to snack on. It could have easily been hectic, but Koushiro found himself glad that he was working alongside Jyou. They had a natural simpatico that made it easy for them to work together.

During their original adventures in the Digital World, Koushiro frequently found himself occupying an observational role within the group. It was a place he was very comfortable with: introverted as he was, Koushiro had always preferred to view social interaction from a distance rather than be directly involved in it. During that time, Jyou was frequently at Koushiro's side. It was less of a choice to be an observer and more of a result of his own indecision in Jyou's case. Still, the result was the same. In those chaotic moments when Taichi and Yamato argued, Sora and Mimi attempted (at times, ineffectually) to calm them down, and Takeru and Hikari shrank from their brothers' outbursts, Koushiro and Jyou were the spectators.

In Koushiro's mind, the foundation of his friendship with Jyou was based on their tendency to balance their group's dynamic with reason. It was probably the same reason why Koushiro enjoyed lengthy discussions with Jyou. He knew he could always count on the aspiring doctor for a rational conversation.

"Well?" Jyou looked over at Koushiro when they had no customers currently waiting in line. "Was it worth it, going to camp instead of taking summer courses at university with me?"

"In some ways it has been," Koushiro answered honestly. "While I didn't get to take advanced engineering courses - the class here was fairly basic - I enjoyed my discussions with my classmates. And it was certainly beneficial to meet Masaru, my engineering teacher. He works at an computer engineering firm, and he's promised to connect me for an internship."

"That's great news."

"My parents were quite pleased when I told them about it as well. My dad was hesitant about my going to camp when I already knew what I wanted to major in for university. He didn't see the point in it," Koushiro confessed. "I'm glad my mom was able to convince him. It has been a worthwhile experience in its own way. What about you? How is your summer school class going?"

Leaning back in his seat, Jyou admitted, "I'm having some difficulties. I'm not sure if taking anatomy in the summer was a bright idea. It's the first upper division biology class I've taken since coming to uni, and I can definitely see _why_ it's upper division. It's not easy."

"But surely it's doable? Especially since you mentioned before that many other bio majors do the same thing."

"Well, even if everyone else is doing the same thing, it doesn't mean that everyone is getting the same grade." Jyou grimaced. "After all, someone has to take the C's and D's in the class for there to be A's and B's. I'm not saying that I will get a low grade," he amended hastily at the skeptical expression that Koushiro gave him, "But it is a very real concern to me. Mimi had to twist my arm into coming today."

Koushiro cautioned, "I am all for hard work, Jyou. Just remember not to lose yourself in your studies."

Jyou smiled slightly. "Ignoring the irony of _you_ saying that to me… I'll try and keep that in mind."

* * *

Sora spent most of her morning helping the painters set up their portion of the gallery in the art cabin. When she finished, she found Linda and Yuu in the middle of a project disaster.

"If we cut it here and finish the edge, we can salvage it and turn it into an asymmetrical dress – " Linda was saying, gesturing to their mannequin.

"But the proportions are all wrong." Yuu ran his hands through his blue hair. "And look how dramatic the hem would end up being – "

"Yeah, but it's not like we can sew the fabric back on without making it obvious that it was a last-minute fix," Linda shot back before she noticed that Sora was standing at their table. "Sora, thank god you're here."

Eyes wide with horror at the duo's dress and the gash in the skirt, Sora blurted out, "Oh no! What happened?"

"The sculptors are what happened." Yuu was understandably glum. "They were running back and forth all over the place, looking for supplies. Last minute fine touching, I guess. One of them accidentally knocked into our table, tripped over their feet, and tore the skirt of our dress when we were in the middle of hemming it."

"We can't send this down the runway." Linda buried her face in her hands. "But we only have until three before it's time for the fashion show, and we're running out of ideas on how to salvage this mess."

Sora looked over at the dress again, this time trying to figure out how the gash could be fixed. It used to be a sleeveless cream dress with an intricately woven bodice and a floor length, flowing skirt. Unfortunately, the skirt was torn irreparably from the rest of the dress. Sora felt a pang of pity. She had seen Linda and Yuu work on the dress for hours. And now, all that hard work… "At least they didn't ruin the bodice," Sora murmured, stepping close to run her fingers gently over the woven fabric. "There's the silver lining."

"Thank god for that!" Yuu nodded fervently in agreement. "I mean, we spent all our time on the bodice. If that had been destroyed, I would walk out now. But even though we didn't spend as much time on the skirt of the dress, it still sucks. We don't have any more fabric in this material either, so we can't just redo the skirt."

"What other fabrics are left?" Sora asked, turning to look at Linda.

The other girl gestured uselessly at the fabric closet. "Everyone else has used up all the lightweight fabrics – it is a summer fashion show, after all – so all that's left is the heavier stuff – tweeds and stuff. And a stiff fabric skirt with that top would make it look too formal, like business clothes." Linda sighed, massaging her temples.

Sora sat down, not knowing what to say to ease the tension so obviously set in their shoulders. She knew very little about fashion; she knew nothing about fabrics. That had always been more of Mimi's area of interest than her own. Eventually, Sora suggested awkwardly, not knowing what else to say, "Well… instead of making a new skirt, what if you made shorts? I mean, shorts would go with the summer theme pretty well."

Yuu stopped to frown at the ruined dress, as if trying to imagine what kind of shorts could go with the dress' top. "Well… maybe. It makes sense…" Yuu said slowly, glancing at Linda. "It might just work. Do you think you could make shorts in time for the show?"

"I could try," she replied hesitantly, staring at the mannequin as well. "What about a dark blue fabric, Yuu? An alternative to jean shorts…"

"We'll need a more sophisticated design that just regular shorts, then," Yuu mused. "Can you cut it like trousers? Ooh, what if we made a tuxedo-inspired vest?"

Linda rolled her eyes and laughed as she glanced at Sora meaningfully, her look clearly communicating, _What did I tell you about his tendency to get carried away? _"That would be a little too much for us to handle if we want to finish in time," she reminded. "I think trouser style shorts should be enough… length about mid-thigh?" She pulled out a sketchpad and began to draft her idea. "No, a little bit higher, make it a bit more…"

Sora bent over the sketchpad to watch Linda work. "Youthful?" Sora suggested, and Linda nodded in approval.

"That looks good, actually!" Yuu grew visibly excited as Linda's sketch began to take on a more defined form. "Let me check the closet for fabric, I'll be right back –"

"Sora, what kind of accessories would you wear with a look like this?" Linda asked intensely as she pushed the sketchbook over to Sora and pulled over a box of sewing supplies toward herself instead.

Taking the sketchbook, Sora considered the question. "I don't know if I would ever wear a look like this, to be honest," she said after a moment. "It's a bit…"

"Revealing?" Linda laughed. "Just a bit. I don't know, I kind of like it. We should probably dress it down, though, since everyone else is doing casual summer wear… maybe gladiator sandals and earthy bangles?"

"Uhh…"

Linda laughed again at the expression on Sora's face. "Or maybe just black flats and sunglasses."

"I thought that it was a fashion rule that you don't wear blue with black," Sora said after a moment, remembering the echo of a conversation with Mimi from months before.

"Well, there's _also_ a fashion rule that says that you can wear black with anything," Linda responded with a satisfied smile on her face as she searched through her supplies box. "And I'm starting to think that maybe this won't be so bad after all." She cast a sad look in the direction of the mannequin. "That dress was gorgeous, but – the show must go on!"

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sora asked, taking Yuu's vacated seat.

"We are _so _lucky, there was some blue corduroy left over! Just enough to make shorts, hopefully, if we're careful about placing it correctly." Yuu grinned when he returned with a bolt of dark blue fabric in his arms, which he handed over to Linda. She immediately began creating a template for the fabric while Yuu removed the ruined dress from the mannequin form with extreme care. "Can you work a sewing machine, Sora? That would be a great help, if you did."

She shook her head in answer. "I've hemmed some of my things before, but only by hand. Sewing machines intimidate me," she confessed, blushing. She felt like an amateur in front of the fashion duo.

But Linda looked up at Sora kindly at that. "Why don't you finish the hemline of the top, then? It should be pretty straightforward, just doing it by hand. That way, Yuu can help me make the shorts."

Put at ease, Sora pulled a spool of thread toward her and threaded it through a needle while Yuu snipped carefully at the dress' skirt. When he finished, she took the newly created top, marveling at the craftsmanship that had gone into it already. "This is really beautiful though, you guys. Who is going to model the outfit for you?"

"I am," Linda answered distractedly, not looking up from her pattern work. "Yuu volunteered, but he just doesn't have the shape to fill it out."

"Don't hate, you're just jealous of my curves," Yuu immediately sassed, making Sora giggle.

It seemed that Sora's addition to the team helped calm the atmosphere between the two. Linda and Yuu no longer seemed so stressed by the fact that there was a deadline still ticking away at them. Sora smiled privately to herself as she listened to the two of them chatter away, glad that she had been able to make them feel less panicky about the whole situation. She suddenly was taken by the thought that maybe she should have done fashion with the two of them. As much as she had enjoyed working on the mural with all the other artists, she had never felt as a part of the group as she did when she was with the fashion duo. And, as it turned out, Sora discovered that fashion wasn't as dull as she had previously thought. It was fascinating to watch Linda construct the beginnings of a pair of shorts in a matter of minutes. Seeing Linda work and Yuu give his input, Sora was beginning to understand why fashion and clothing could be perceived as an art form. The way the two argued over proportions and hemming detail was strikingly comparable to any discussion the painters conducted over shade selection and paintbrush preference.

By lunchtime, Sora had finished hemming the top and was busy laughing and teasing Yuu with Linda. Yuu was in the middle of imploring Sora to side with his suggestion of placing buttons instead of a zipper on the shorts when Paul appeared. "Sorry to interrupt, I know you guys are running behind schedule," he apologized, "but Sora, some of your friends are here to see you."

Sora leaned over to see around Paul. She couldn't help the smile that automatically came to her at the sight of a beaming Takaishi Takeru. A beat later, she saw that Yamato was also standing with Takeru and her smile faltered briefly, but then Takeru was immediately before her. Ignoring Yamato for the moment, Sora stood up and accepted his greeting embrace. "Oh Takeru, it's so good to see you. How long has it been?"

"A few weeks, but who's counting?" He released her with a bashfully sweet grin. "You look well."

"I feel well," she replied warmly. "Let me introduce you to my friends." She named Paul, Linda, and Yuu in turn. "This is Takeru, a childhood friend of mine. He's like the younger brother I never had. And… this is Yamato, Takeru's older brother. He came to camp to study music."

"It's good to meet you both." Linda smiled. "Are the three of you going to lunch now?"

"We have a group of friends waiting for us for lunch," Takeru confirmed. "But you looked like you were in the middle of something important. We can wait for you until you're finished, Sora."

"Nah, it's okay." Yuu patted Sora on the arm. "She was just staying to keep us company. Sora, you should go and have fun with your friends! Let us know if there's anything interesting out there for us to check out once we're finish these shorts."

Sora hesitated, feeling guilty for leaving when they were still in the middle of their construction. "Are you sure? I can still help you guys out if you need me."

"Sor, _go_," Linda laughed. "We'll be fine, trust me. You've done more than enough already for us. We'll catch up to you later."

Reassured that she wasn't abandoning them, Sora said her goodbyes to her art friends and led Takeru and Yamato out into the main art room. Before they could leave however, Takeru cleared his throat. "By the way, Sora, I actually need to use the bathroom before we go eat. Is there one here or somewhere nearby?"

Sora stopped. "Oh, sure. Since the art class is pretty big, we actually have a restroom in one of the rooms. It's down the hall, that way."

"Great. Sorry for making you wait for me but I'll be right back!"

It wasn't until Takeru had walked off that Sora realized belatedly that in doing so, he had unintentionally left her alone with Yamato. They technically weren't _alone_ - there were dozens of artists milling about, some of them showing off gallery displays to the friends and family members who had already arrived - but the presence of all those other people did nothing to dilute Sora's awareness of Yamato standing beside her. That awareness only sharpened when she turned her head and saw him looking back at her.

After their… discussion on Tuesday night, Sora had gone to sleep resigned to the fact that she and Yamato were a dead end. That didn't mean that her feelings for Yamato had vanished completely though. True to their agreement, they had kept out of each other's way in the days that followed as they prepared for the camp showcase, and that distance had helped her feel better. But today felt different. Now that the mural was finished and Sora had time to look, Yamato's eyes always seemed to be on her when she least expected him. It unbalanced her. There was a part of Sora that wondered if this was all a premonition that the future would worsen once more: that they would clash in another round of heartache. But things felt differently between them now. When she looked at him, she felt cautious instead of wary.

Still, she couldn't understand what he was thinking. Searching his face, Sora sensed that he was waiting for some kind of cue from her. But for the life of her, she didn't know what that cue was.

Sora said nothing.

His eyes flitted away from her and then back. He moistened his bottom lip and crossed his arms, finally asking, "Are any of the paintings in the gallery yours?"

"Just one. I did a small watercolor before the mural project began."

"May I see it?"

Glancing over at the hallway that led to the bathrooms - she hoped that Takeru would be coming back soon - Sora nodded and took Yamato to her painting. It had been placed on the far end of the gallery, clustered with the works of artists who hadn't been as prolific as some of their other peers. She pointed out her watercolor for him: a tall vase holding a few sunflowers. "This is mine," she told him, feeling inexplicably nervous.

It felt like ages passed while Yamato took it in, his eyes roaming over the painting's details. "I don't know anything about art, but I really like how you did the glass," he said eventually. He turned and smiled hesitantly at her. "It's pretty cool, how you captured the light going through it and everything."

"Thanks." Amazed that he had picked up on that detail, Sora cleared her throat and shifted her weight. She fixed her eyes on the painting. "That was the part that worried me the most. I put off on painting it until the very end because I was sure I was going to mess it up. I had Paul show me his tricks, since he's the watercolor expert and everything. And even then, I spent hours practicing how to paint it on other scraps of paper before doing it for real. " She forcibly stopped herself there with a flush, suddenly acutely aware of her self-conscious babble.

If he noticed it though, Yamato didn't say anything about it. "Well, it shows. The painting is amazing."

Sora glanced around at the other paintings, trying in vain to find one that she thought he would like. Before she could make up her mind, Yamato cleared his throat and asked, "How have you been? These past few days."

"I've been good. A little tired from painting the mural, but I'm glad that it's done now. It's be nice to get to know the artists better, too." Even to her own ears, Sora sounded forced in her cheerfulness. Nonetheless, she plowed on steadily and said, "What about you?"

"Okay, I guess. Just practicing, avoiding Kosuke. The usual."

Yamato looked at her with that unsettling look in his eyes once more. Seeing it again - Sora felt herself being overtaken by a wave of irrational panic. Certain that he would do or say something that she wasn't prepared to deal with, Sora reflexively said, "I wonder what's taking Takeru so long. We shouldn't keep the others waiting. Do you think you could go and check on him? I'll wait for you outside the cabin."

She already moved to back away, and so he had no choice but to agree, "Sure."

Sora watched him leave before she walked outside, feeling both relieved and confused. She wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, but for a brief moment, she thought she saw Yamato's shoulder slump slightly as he strode away.

* * *

Mimi laughed delightedly at Sora and Yamato's twin expressions of shock when they finally arrived with Takeru for lunch. She waved cheekily at them. "Surprise, surprise!"

Sora cried out, "Mimi!" and ran toward her. Mimi quickly stood up and intercepted Sora's joyful embrace. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, Sora." Mimi smoothed the other girl's hair briefly before they let each other go. "Oh, it's so good to see you again! And you too, Yamato," Mimi added as Yamato came over to give her a one-armed hug. "What took you guys so long? We've been waiting for the original eight to reunite before we ate lunch. Come on you three, we already bought food for you too - sit down and eat - "

"Yes ma'am!" Takeru grinned, plopping down on the ground in the spot between Mimi and Hikari. "You're the best, Mimi."

While they ate, Mimi found that there was a permanent smile on her face. She couldn't help but stop every so often to soak up the atmosphere. There was nothing like being reunited with old friends after a long time apart. Although six years had now passed since she had moved away from Tokyo, New York City wasn't really her home. Her home was here, in the humid weather with her closest friends. Happiness bubbled up through her chest, spreading warmth to her very toes. _Just another year left to go and I can move back, _she thought. The time to return to Japan couldn't come quickly enough for her.

"Hey, now that we're all together," Taichi said, leaning forward, "Hikari mentioned before that something was going on in the Digital World. Can you and Takeru catch us up?"

That got Mimi's attention right away. This was the first instance that she'd heard of something going on with the Digital World since arriving in Tokyo. Worried, she turned with everyone else and watched Takeru and Hikari communicate in a wordless exchange. Eventually, with a small nod, Takeru faced everyone. "There's kind of a delicate situation that we're dealing with right now," he began, "and it involves two unfriendly Digimon flocks."

Mimi listened carefully as Takeru and Hikari took turns recounting their past few days in the Digital World, detailing the argument between the Kokatorimon and Falcomon flocks. "Remember the Kokatorimon that we ran into when we were hiding from Etemon?" Mimi couldn't help but comment when they were finished with their report. She wrinkled her nose. "And all of those Numemon on its ship too, pee-ew!"

Yamato chuckled. "That definitely wasn't one of our better days in the Digital World. But hey, don't forget, you found your Crest of Purity because of Kokatorimon's ship. It wasn't all bad."

"That's true…"

"What I want to know is why the Kokatorimon decided to move onto the Falcomon's lands in the first place." Sora wiped her fingers on a napkin. Her eyebrows drew together. "I mean, they had to trek all the way from Mount Panorama through the Gear Savanna, right? That's not exactly an easy journey if you don't have enough provisions."

"Sora's right." Koushiro had opened his laptop during Takeru and Hikari's briefing and was now typing rapidly. "I'm pulling up a map of File Island," he explained, his eyes focused on the screen before him. "My information is outdated because I haven't had a chance to program in the effects of the famine yet. But if I'm looking at this map correctly, there are other abundant food sources nearby Mount Panorama. Why go through the Gear Savanna at all?"

Mimi bit her lip as a thought occurred to her. "But we don't know how far the famine has spread. What if all those other food sources were also destroyed? Then _all_ the Digimon in that area are suffering, not just the Kokatorimon."

"We'll have to analyze Mount Panorama," Koushiro began to mutter under his breath, his fingers typing even faster. "Soil samples for one thing. We need to figure out what kinds of nutrients are still available."

"We would have to also find out what kind of nutrients are needed to produce the food that the Digimon in the area usually eat." Jyou looked over Koushiro's shoulder before looking up at everyone else. "Do we know if Digimon use fertilizers at all? I can't believe we've never thought about farming and food production in the Digital World. I'm starting to get the feeling that we should have looked into it when the famine first began. We should have done the research to prepare for the aftermath."

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Jyou. I'll talk to Gennai about it, promise." Taichi squeezed Jyou's shoulder in reassurance. "He would know about digital fertilizers if there are any. I'll take Agumon around Mount Panorama to find out what happened to all of the Kokatorimon's neighbors, too," he added, nodding at Mimi. "We have a responsibility to all the Digimon who have been affected by the famine."

Mimi smiled, glad that her concern was being acknowledged. She volunteered, "Palmon and I will come with you."

Yamato cleared his throat. "That's all well and good, but we still haven't talked about what to do about the Kokatorimon specifically. I like the idea of teaching them to farm as a decent long-term goal, but we need a short-term solution to keep the Kokatorimon from fighting the Falcomon for now." He addressed Hikari and Takeru directly, "How have your negotiations progressed with the two flocks? Do their ambassadors respond particularly well to any mediators we've had talk to them so far?"

"Well, we know that the Kokatorimon ambassador doesn't like me," Hikari said with a self-deprecating laugh, lowering her eyes. "Both ambassadors prefer talking to Ken and Daisuke. I guess I'm not as good of a mediator as I thought I was."

"Hey, don't say that." Mimi watched with raised eyebrows as Takeru touched Hikari's forearm. He spoke to her softly, "That Kokatorimon ambassador was just having a bad day. By the time it was his turn to talk to us, he decided to take out his frustrations on us. It's not anything you did."

Mimi's gaze flickered over to the rest of the group to see if anyone else had noticed what just happened. Sora had already turned to Jyou, the pair of them discussing mediation tactics; Koushiro had appealed to Taichi's attention, so they had missed Yamato's question entirely. Only Yamato was watching the youngest of the group with as much interest as her. He seemed to focus in on his brother's actions, and the beginnings of a smile twitch at the corners of Yamato's lips before he turned to join Jyou and Sora's discussion. Taking his cue to not make a production out of it, Mimi leaned over to join Koushiro and Taichi's conversation. She still made a mental note to ask Takeru or Hikari on their latest development, though.

And on the topic of relationship developments… She surreptitiously looked between Sora and Yamato. They were definitely friendlier to each other than the last time she had seen them in person, as Koushiro had told her. But Mimi got the feeling that there was something deeper there. She made another mental note for herself to pursue later when the opportunity came up.

The rest of lunch passed quickly. When the group grew tired of discussing the Digital World - since there was only so much they could plan for without the rest of the Chosen with them - the conversation grew more light-hearted. There was plenty of teasing and laughter as they ate their desserts and planned group activities for the rest of the summer. Mimi would have more than content to just lounge around in the shade for hours, but they _were_ visiting for a camp showcase after all. "Let's go walk around," Jyou suggested. "There are a lot of displays that we haven't seen yet, and the performances are going to start in a couple of hours."

Koushiro pulled on his backpack. "How about we head over to the engineering display?" he suggested. "They should be done with set-up by now."

"So now we get to find out what the surprise project was?" Sora teased as the group got to their feet, dusting the grass and dirt from their bottoms. "I have high expectations, Koushiro, I've been waiting days for the unveiling."

He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Well, I hope that you won't be disappointed then."

Mimi was patting down her pockets to make sure she had all her things (phone, map, Digivice, check!) when she overheard Yamato apologize under the cover of everyone else's chatter, "Sorry Koushiro, but I think I'd better get going. I need to practice my music some more. And find Akira, he's supposed to be around here somewhere."

The name was vaguely familiar to Mimi. "Who's Akira?" she asked. "That name…"

"He's Yamato's band member. The TEEN-AGE WOLVES' guitarist."

Koushiro and Yamato both jumped at the sound of Sora's voice. Blinking, Mimi looked back at forth between the boys and Sora, noticing immediately how Yamato looked abashed. Even Koushiro pulled at the collar of his shirt uncomfortably. The others had already started walking away, with Taichi explaining to Jyou, Hikari, and Takeru of how Koushiro had kept the engineering project a secret from everyone. But among the four of them who had fallen behind, it felt to Mimi the atmosphere couldn't have been more awkward. Apparently, Koushiro hadn't given her the full story when she had asked. Either that or (since Mimi wanted to give Koushiro the benefit of the doubt) there was a lot more going on between Sora and Yamato than even Koushiro had been aware of.

Belatedly, Mimi realized that it might not have been a smart move to trust Koushiro's observations of their friends' relationship entirely. It wasn't that he would have deceived her, but it was a lot to expect him to pick up on the nuances of Sora and Yamato's obviously delicate relationship. First of all, he was a boy. Boys just weren't good at reporting this kind of thing. And second… well, this was Koushiro she was talking about. He spent more than half his time behind his computer; he was bound to miss a few things.

Yamato suddenly addressed her, bringing Mimi out of her musings, "I'll see you later, Mimi. "Sorry I can't spend more time with you right now, but…"

"No, it's okay." She smiled, hoping to convey her understanding. "We'll have plenty of time to socialize after you get back from camp. Go and practice, we'll catch up later."

He glanced at Sora and then walked away. Mimi, Sora, and Koushiro then hurried to catch up with the others. "What took you guys?" Taichi asked when they joined up. "Hey, where'd Yamato go? Isn't he coming with us?" Taichi asked Mimi when she fell into step beside him at the front of the group.

She shook her head. "No, he said he needed to practice his music some more."

"Ah, okay. I'm not surprised, he's been doing that the entire time we've been in camp. As a best friend, I've definitely been feeling neglected by him," Taichi joked, his eyes crinkling.

Mimi laughed. "Aww, Taichi, it's okay." Suddenly she was struck by inspiration, and she looked at Taichi speculatively. She had forgotten that Taichi was best friends with both Sora and Yamato. Wouldn't he know better than anyone what was going on between the two of them? After all, everyone confided in their best friend when they were going through something. But would Taichi answer if Mimi asked him about Sora's relationship with Yamato? The chances were slim, Mimi concluded after a moment's consideration. Taichi could be very protective of Sora, and he might have some sort of bro-code of silence with Yamato. If she wanted Taichi to tell her what was going on, she had to maneuver him into it very carefully.

She was going to have to be sneaky.

First she checked behind them to make sure there was enough space between them and the rest of the group. When she saw that there was, Mimi cleared her throat and sidled up closer to Taichi. "So... Taichi…"

"Uh oh." He looked down at her wryly. "I know that tone of voice of yours. What do you want?"

_Busted. _Mimi told herself to stay cool. She could still get this to work. "Who says I want anything?" She blinked at him innocently, using all of her effort to pretend to be confused.

He just wrinkled his nose at her. "Tachikawa Mimi, I know you better than that."

"I was just going to ask how you were doing." She pouted and crossed her arms. She continued dramatically, "Aren't I even allowed to ask one of my best friends how his life has been? Or is that a crime now?" She huffed and turned her head away, nose up in the air.

Taichi laughed. "Geez, Mimi. Okay, okay! I get it, I'm sorry."

"That's not good enough," she insisted, though she bit her lip to hold back the laughter that threatened to escape from her.

He started to jokingly plead, "Please, Mimi? C'mon, don't be mad with me. I'm sorry, I was just joking. I'll make it up to you. How about… hey, look, they're selling ice cream over there. Do you want one? My treat, if you forgive me."

Mimi threw him a mock-glare. "You're terrible. Bribing me to forgive you?" She flipped her hair over her shoulder, turning away from him.

"Well, it's not like I can buy you flowers. I figured ice cream was the next best thing." He shrugged and smiled crookedly at her. "Really, though, Mimi. Forgive me? I didn't mean to offend you."

She paused - giving him time to sweat a little - before sneaking a glance. He looked properly apologetically and she gave in. "Oh, all right." She giggled and relaxed. "So, ice cream?"

"I did promise." Taichi turned around. "Hey, Koushiro, Mimi and I will catch up with you guys in a bit, okay? I'm going to buy her an ice cream."

Koushiro nodded agreeably. "We'll see you soon then."

"Taichi, you're so sweet," Mimi trilled as she and Taichi walked toward the ice cream stand. "I hope they have green tea, it's my favorite flavor. Ooh! Or strawberry. Or vanilla. The classics are always delicious."

Amused, he smiled. "I'm positive they'll have green tea ice cream. Anyway, so what was it that you wanted to talk to me about? Before you got all mad at me and everything?"

Mimi shrugged easily. "I really did want to ask what's been going on with you and everyone else. Like, aside from camp. What's changed since I last saw all of you?" She admitted with true sincerity, "To be honest, it's not easy being the only one who lives far away. While the rest of you guys are all here and going out on the weekends with each other, I'm… by myself. With people who are nice, don't get me wrong, but people who don't really understand our culture and heritage."

Taichi stopped to look at her, concern etched in his face. "Mimi, is this the real reason why you're coming back to Japan? I thought you said you were coming back because your dad was getting transferred back to his company's headquarters."

"No, he is!" Mimi hurriedly reassured, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "I do love New York and America. I'm happy I had the chance to learn new things and make strong bonds with new people. I'm just saying that I miss being here. Being a Chosen with the people who I went on my Digital World adventures with."

He was visibly relieved at her answer. "That's good. None of us want you to be unhappy. We miss you too," Taichi said anxiously. "Even when we do get the chance to go out - and it's a lot rarer than you think - it's not complete. We always feel the hole from where you're supposed to be. Don't ever think that it doesn't matter to us that you're not around, even for the little boring things."

She felt unexpectedly touched by his words. She wiped at the inner corner of her eye and coughed. "Gosh, that got emotional. So tell me, what's being going on with you?"

Taichi filled her in on the details of his camp experiences - the struggles with his team, the new friends he had made. "Hopefully you'll get to meet Wakana and Susumu later, but I don't know how much time we'll have after the orchestra performs," Taichi said as they waited in line for Mimi's ice cream. "But I think that Wakana is pretty close to Sora and Yamato, so you might meet her at some point during your visit."

Mimi couldn't have asked for a better opening that that. Casually, she asked, "Speaking of Sora and Yamato, how are they doing? You know, in _that_ way," she said with emphasis so that there would be no room for doubt. "I couldn't help but notice that Sora and Yamato were acting a lot better than how they were the last time we saw each other in the DW, so that makes me happier. But there's something still not right going on, isn't there? I kept getting that feeling at lunch. I couldn't figure it out though."

At this point, they had reached the front of the ice cream line. "One scoop of green tea, please, in a waffle cone," Taichi requested. He handed over the appropriate number of tickets and delivered the ice cream to Mimi before hesitantly saying, "A lot has been going on since the last time you were here, that's true." He carefully evaluated Mimi's expression as they left for the engineering area. "You look like you at least have _some_ idea of what's being going on, though. Tell me what you already know and I'll try to fill in the gaps for you if I can."

"Okay." Mimi licked at her ice cream first while she thought back. "The last time I saw Yamato and Sora was when they were still really angry with each other, around winter break last year. They were doing the whole cold-shoulder thing. But I know that you and Gabumon and Piyoman got through to them eventually and they started being nice again. Sora told me herself that she and Yamato were at least friendly when the whole camp idea started." She then recounted her last conversation with Koushiro. "The thing that's throwing me off is that Koushiro said Yamato and Sora were back to normal. But today at lunch, it definitely didn't look that way. So did something else happen? Or is this just the way things are now?" Mimi shook her head. "Because that's… that's not normal. Not to me."

Taichi rested his hand on her shoulder. "I know how you feel, Mimi. I felt the same way for a long time too. But the thing is, if 'normal' to you is when Sora and Yamato are girlfriend and boyfriend… I'll be honest, I don't think things are ever gonna go back to 'normal' again."

Crestfallen, Mimi's shoulders fell. "What do you mean?"

"They've been dealing with all sorts of issues. You know, the kind of stuff that's been left over from their messy break up? I'm pretty sure that's why things are still weird for them."

"You sound like you know a lot more than you're saying, Taichi."

"I may have butted my way into some of their issues even though it probably wasn't a good idea," he admitted. "I've learned my lesson, though. I kind of promised to leave them alone about it and to stop interfering in their business."

That made her crack a smile. "Sounds like a hard job for you."

"You have no idea."

Mimi's smile faded. "So in your opinion, what are the chances of their getting back together again? I mean, Taichi, is it totally hopeless?"

She noticed that her question had made Taichi uneasy. He scratched his elbow and said uncomfortably, "You know, if you asked me that last week, I would have bet that their chances were pretty high. They were starting to get close again, and, I don't know, I thought it was a good sign. But after kind of hearing both sides of the story… who knows? Every time they work through one issue, more pop up and get in the way. I get the feeling that there's even more things keeping them apart, stuff that they're just hiding inside themselves still." He sighed. "To tell you the truth, Mimi, until they get all their issues sorted out and get through all their misunderstandings, I don't think that Sora and Yamato are gonna get back together."

In truth, after hearing everything else that Taichi had to say, his conclusion didn't really surprise her. If there was one thing she despaired most about Sora and Yamato, it was their mutual tendency to keep their deepest feelings to themselves. The only thing that Mimi could think of off the top of her head that would be harder than getting the Chosen of Love and Friendship to open up about their personal turmoil was convincing Koushiro to go anywhere without his laptop. "Too bad we can't just lock them inside a closet together until they work all their issues out," she attempted to joke half-heartedly. "That always seems to work well in the romantic comedies."

Taichi answering smile could only be described as strained. "Yeah. Too bad."

* * *

Manami spread out the conductor's score of _Ghosts of Brandenburg_ on her office desk. While she carefully scanned the measures, she conjured up the memory of her orchestra playing each part, remembering their synchronization and overall sound. As she went through the music, she removed Post-It notes and placed new ones accordingly, marking trouble areas and last-minute reminders. _Review with second violins_, she'd written on one movement. _Have violas and cellos rehearse_, on another. By the end of her appraisal, Manami had removed most of the Post-Its. Only a few remained.

_Thank goodness for that_, she thought, leaning back in her chair with a small sigh.

Even though the dramatics of the orchestra at times suggested otherwise, Manami was certain that their performance that night would go well. It wouldn't be perfect - no one could expect that much from a group of high school musicians - but it would be far from the disaster that Kosuke insisted it would be. At the thought of her concertmaster, Manami had to bite back a small laugh. As ungracious as it would be to admit, she couldn't wait to _not_ have to be in charge of reigning in Kosuke once camp was over. One primadonna musician was quite more than she wanted to deal with in her career as a conductor, thank you.

Her eyes caught the reflection of her desk clock. A quarter to four - she would have to get going soon. The music scouts were due to arrive at around four fifteen, and Manami wanted to be there to welcome them to Camp Odake with Ran. It never hurt to gain more contacts within the orchestral industry after all.

While Manami cleaned up her desk, a knock on the door interrupted her. "Come in," she called. It was with surprise that she saw the cello section leader standing in her doorway. "Kayo, what can I do for you?"

The younger girl stepped inside the office. "There's something I need to talk to you about. About tonight's performance."

Perplexed, Manami glanced at the clock again. "Can it wait? The music scouts will be arriving soon and I need to go greet them. Maybe after I come back?"

"It will only take a minute, I promise," Kayo insisted, determined. "This is important."


End file.
